diff --git a/src/core/jupyter/jupyter-filters.ts b/src/core/jupyter/jupyter-filters.ts
index 01f74f3c14..96787f16a7 100644
--- a/src/core/jupyter/jupyter-filters.ts
+++ b/src/core/jupyter/jupyter-filters.ts
@@ -13,16 +13,20 @@ import { Format } from "../../config/types.ts";
 import { execProcess } from "../../core/process.ts";
 import { handlerForScript } from "../../core/run/run.ts";
 import { parseShellRunCommand } from "../../core/run/shell.ts";
+import { JupyterNotebook } from "./types.ts";
 
-export async function markdownFromNotebook(file: string, format?: Format) {
+export async function markdownFromNotebookFile(file: string, format?: Format) {
   // read file with any filters
   const nbContents = await jupyterNotebookFiltered(
     file,
     format?.execute[kIpynbFilters],
   );
   const nb = JSON.parse(nbContents);
-  const cells = nb.cells as Array<{ cell_type: string; source: string[] }>;
-  const markdown = cells.reduce((md, cell) => {
+  return markdownFromNotebookJSON(nb);
+}
+
+export function markdownFromNotebookJSON(nb: JupyterNotebook) {
+  const markdown = nb.cells.reduce((md, cell) => {
     if (["markdown", "raw"].includes(cell.cell_type)) {
       return md + "\n" + cell.source.join("") + "\n";
     } else {
diff --git a/src/execute/jupyter/jupyter-kernel.ts b/src/execute/jupyter/jupyter-kernel.ts
index 5f98cf99e1..f8544aac41 100644
--- a/src/execute/jupyter/jupyter-kernel.ts
+++ b/src/execute/jupyter/jupyter-kernel.ts
@@ -15,7 +15,10 @@ import { execProcess, ProcessResult } from "../../core/process.ts";
 import { md5Hash } from "../../core/hash.ts";
 import { resourcePath } from "../../core/resources.ts";
 import { pythonExec } from "../../core/jupyter/exec.ts";
-import { JupyterCapabilities } from "../../core/jupyter/types.ts";
+import {
+  JupyterCapabilities,
+  JupyterKernelspec,
+} from "../../core/jupyter/types.ts";
 import { jupyterCapabilities } from "../../core/jupyter/capabilities.ts";
 import {
   jupyterCapabilitiesMessage,
@@ -33,6 +36,7 @@ import {
 import { ExecuteOptions } from "../types.ts";
 
 export interface JupyterExecuteOptions extends ExecuteOptions {
+  kernelspec: JupyterKernelspec;
   python_cmd: string[];
 }
 
@@ -44,7 +48,7 @@ export async function executeKernelOneshot(
 
   // execute the notebook (save back in place)
   if (!options.quiet) {
-    messageStartingKernel();
+    messageStartingKernel(options.kernelspec);
   }
 
   trace(options, "Executing notebook with oneshot kernel");
@@ -373,7 +377,7 @@ async function connectToKernel(
 
   // start the kernel
   if (!options.quiet) {
-    messageStartingKernel();
+    messageStartingKernel(options.kernelspec);
   }
 
   // determine timeout
@@ -446,8 +450,8 @@ async function denoConnectToKernel(
   }
 }
 
-function messageStartingKernel() {
-  info("\nStarting Jupyter kernel...", { newline: false });
+function messageStartingKernel(kernelspec: JupyterKernelspec) {
+  info(`\nStarting ${kernelspec.name} kernel...`, { newline: false });
 }
 
 function trace(options: ExecuteOptions, msg: string) {
diff --git a/src/execute/jupyter/jupyter.ts b/src/execute/jupyter/jupyter.ts
index 514148402e..33bfe873e1 100644
--- a/src/execute/jupyter/jupyter.ts
+++ b/src/execute/jupyter/jupyter.ts
@@ -53,7 +53,11 @@ import {
   executeKernelOneshot,
   JupyterExecuteOptions,
 } from "./jupyter-kernel.ts";
-import { JupyterWidgetDependencies } from "../../core/jupyter/types.ts";
+import {
+  JupyterKernelspec,
+  JupyterNotebook,
+  JupyterWidgetDependencies,
+} from "../../core/jupyter/types.ts";
 import {
   includesForJupyterWidgetDependencies,
 } from "../../core/jupyter/widgets.ts";
@@ -75,10 +79,11 @@ import { pythonExec } from "../../core/jupyter/exec.ts";
 
 import {
   jupyterNotebookFiltered,
-  markdownFromNotebook,
+  markdownFromNotebookFile,
+  markdownFromNotebookJSON,
 } from "../../core/jupyter/jupyter-filters.ts";
 import { asMappedString } from "../../core/lib/mapped-text.ts";
-import { mappedStringFromFile } from "../../core/mapped-text.ts";
+import { MappedString, mappedStringFromFile } from "../../core/mapped-text.ts";
 import { breakQuartoMd } from "../../core/lib/break-quarto-md.ts";
 
 export const jupyterEngine: ExecutionEngine = {
@@ -121,9 +126,16 @@ export const jupyterEngine: ExecutionEngine = {
   target: async (
     file: string,
   ): Promise<ExecutionTarget | undefined> => {
-    const markdown = isJupyterNotebook(file)
-      ? asMappedString(await markdownFromNotebook(file)) // FIXME how do we do source mapping from .ipynb?
-      : asMappedString(mappedStringFromFile(file));
+    // at some point we'll resolve a full notebook/kernelspec
+    let nb: JupyterNotebook | undefined;
+    let markdown: MappedString;
+    if (isJupyterNotebook(file)) {
+      const nbJSON = Deno.readTextFileSync(file);
+      nb = JSON.parse(nbJSON) as JupyterNotebook;
+      markdown = asMappedString(markdownFromNotebookJSON(nb));
+    } else {
+      markdown = asMappedString(mappedStringFromFile(file));
+    }
 
     // get the metadata
     const metadata = readYamlFromMarkdown(markdown.value);
@@ -138,9 +150,10 @@ export const jupyterEngine: ExecutionEngine = {
         input: notebook,
         markdown,
         metadata,
-        data: { transient: true },
+        data: { transient: true, kernelspec: {} },
       };
-      await createNotebookforTarget(target);
+      nb = await createNotebookforTarget(target);
+      target.data.kernelspec = nb.metadata.kernelspec;
       return target;
     } else if (isJupyterNotebook(file)) {
       return {
@@ -148,7 +161,7 @@ export const jupyterEngine: ExecutionEngine = {
         input: file,
         markdown,
         metadata,
-        data: { transient: false },
+        data: { transient: false, kernelspec: nb?.metadata.kernelspec },
       };
     } else {
       return undefined;
@@ -157,7 +170,7 @@ export const jupyterEngine: ExecutionEngine = {
 
   partitionedMarkdown: async (file: string, format?: Format) => {
     if (isJupyterNotebook(file)) {
-      return partitionMarkdown(await markdownFromNotebook(file, format));
+      return partitionMarkdown(await markdownFromNotebookFile(file, format));
     } else {
       return partitionMarkdown(Deno.readTextFileSync(file));
     }
@@ -215,6 +228,9 @@ export const jupyterEngine: ExecutionEngine = {
       await createNotebookforTarget(options.target);
     }
 
+    // determine the kernel (it's in the custom execute options data)
+    const kernelspec = (options.target.data as JupyterTargetData).kernelspec;
+
     // determine execution behavior
     const execute = options.format.execute[kExecuteEnabled] !== false;
     if (execute) {
@@ -240,6 +256,7 @@ export const jupyterEngine: ExecutionEngine = {
         }
       }
       const jupyterExecOptions: JupyterExecuteOptions = {
+        kernelspec,
         python_cmd: await pythonExec(),
         ...execOptions,
       };
@@ -368,6 +385,7 @@ function isQmdFile(file: string) {
 async function createNotebookforTarget(target: ExecutionTarget) {
   const nb = await quartoMdToJupyter(target.source, true);
   Deno.writeTextFileSync(target.input, JSON.stringify(nb, null, 2));
+  return nb;
 }
 
 async function disableDaemonForNotebook(target: ExecutionTarget) {
@@ -416,6 +434,7 @@ function cleanupNotebook(target: ExecutionTarget, format: Format) {
 
 interface JupyterTargetData {
   transient: boolean;
+  kernelspec: JupyterKernelspec;
 }
 
 function executeResultIncludes(