diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index fb162fb..30badd3 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -224,10 +224,14 @@ History:
 - [@jfbercher](https://github.com/jfbercher), august 14, 2016, first version.
 - [@jfbercher](https://github.com/jfbercher), august 19, 2016, second version,
   - introduced support for R and javascript.
-  - Change extension name from `yapf_ext` to `code_prettify`
+  - changed extension name from `yapf_ext` to `code_prettify`
 - [@jcb91](https://github.com/jcb91), december 2016
   - made addition of toolbar button & hotkey configurable
   - reworked to avoid regex replacements for conversion to/from kernel string
     formats, in favour of json-string interchange
   - made kernel-specific prettifier calls configurable, allowing support for
     different prettifiers & arbitrary kernels
+  - improved documentation
+- [@jfbercher](https://github.com/jfbercher), december 2016
+  - added a configurable shortkey to reflow the whole notebook
+  - extracted most of the code to build a general library of functions, `kernel_exec_on_cell.js`, which can be used for all nbextensions which needs to exec some code (via the current kernel) on the text from cells.  
diff --git a/code_prettify.js b/code_prettify.js
index 2a70978..ada5741 100755
--- a/code_prettify.js
+++ b/code_prettify.js
@@ -1,35 +1,27 @@
 // Copyright (c) Jupyter-Contrib Team.
 // Distributed under the terms of the Modified BSD License.
+// Authors: @jfbercher and @jcb91
 
 define(function(require, exports, module) {
     'use strict';
 
     var $ = require('jquery');
     var Jupyter = require('base/js/namespace');
-    var events = require('base/js/events');
-    var utils = require('base/js/utils');
-    var ConfigSection = require('services/config').ConfigSection;
-    var CodeCell = require('notebook/js/codecell').CodeCell;
+    var kernel_exec_on_cell = require('nbextensions/code_prettify/kernel_exec_on_cell')
 
     var mod_name = 'code_prettify';
     var mod_log_prefix = '[' + mod_name + ']';
-    var mod_edit_shortcuts = {};
-    var mod_cmd_shortcuts = {};
-    var default_kernel_config = {
-        library: '',
-        prefix: '',
-        postfix: '',
-        replacements_json_to_kernel: [],
-        trim_formatted_text: true
-    };
 
     // gives default settings
     var cfg = {
         add_toolbar_button: true,
         hotkey: 'Ctrl-L',
-        prettify_all_hotkey: 'Ctrl-Shift-L',
+        process_all_hotkey: 'Ctrl-Shift-L',
         register_hotkey: true,
         show_alerts_for_errors: true,
+        extension_name: 'code_prettify',
+        extension_label: 'Code prettify',
+        extension_icon: 'fa-legal'
     };
 
     cfg.kernel_config_map = { // map of parameters for supported kernels
@@ -54,199 +46,48 @@ define(function(require, exports, module) {
     // before it is parsed into an object
     cfg.kernel_config_map_json = JSON.stringify(cfg.kernel_config_map);
 
-    /**
-     * return a Promise which will resolve/reject based on the kernel message
-     * type.
-     * The returned promise will be
-     *   - resolved if the message was not an error
-     *   - rejected using the message's error text if msg.msg_type is "error"
-     */
-    function convert_error_msg_to_broken_promise (msg) {
-        return new Promise(function (resolve, reject) {
-            if (msg.msg_type == 'error') {
-                return reject(mod_log_prefix + '\n Error: ' + msg.content.ename + '\n' + msg.content.evalue);
-            }
-            return resolve(msg);
-        });
-    }
+    function assign_hotkeys_from_config(cfg) {
 
-    function get_kernel_config() {
-        var kernelLanguage = Jupyter.notebook.metadata.kernelspec.language.toLowerCase();
-        var kernel_config = cfg.kernel_config_map[kernelLanguage];
-        // true => deep
-        return $.extend(true,  {}, default_kernel_config, kernel_config);
-    }
+        var cfg_code_prettify = cfg;
+        var mod_edit_shortcuts = {};
+        var mod_cmd_shortcuts = {};
 
-    function transform_json_string_to_kernel_string (str, kernel_config) {
-        for (var ii=0; ii<kernel_config.replacements_json_to_kernel.length; ii++) {
-            var from = kernel_config.replacements_json_to_kernel[ii][0];
-            var to = kernel_config.replacements_json_to_kernel[ii][1];
-            str = str.replace(from, to);
-        }
-        return str;
-    }
-
-    /**
-     * construct functions as callbacks for the autoformat cell promise. This
-     * is necessary because javascript lacks loop scoping, so if we don't use
-     * this IIFE pattern, cell_index & cell are passed by reference, and every
-     * callback ends up using the same value
-     */
-    function construct_cell_callbacks (cell_index, cell) {
-        var on_success = function (formatted_text) {
-            cell.set_text(formatted_text);
-        };
-        var on_failure = function (reason) {
-            console.warn(
-                mod_log_prefix,
-                'error prettifying cell', cell_index + ':\n',
-                reason
-            );
-            if (cfg.show_alerts_for_errors) {
-                alert(reason);
-            }
-        };
-        return [on_success, on_failure];
-    }
-
-    function autoformat_cells (indices) {
-        if (indices === undefined) {
-            indices = Jupyter.notebook.get_selected_cells_indices();
-        }
-        var kernel_config = get_kernel_config();
-        for (var ii=0; ii<indices.length; ii++) {
-            var cell_index = indices[ii];
-            var cell = Jupyter.notebook.get_cell(cell_index);
-            if (!(cell instanceof CodeCell)) {
-                continue;
-            }
-            // IIFE because otherwise cell_index & cell are passed by reference
-            var callbacks = construct_cell_callbacks(cell_index, cell);
-            autoformat_text(cell.get_text(), kernel_config).then(callbacks[0], callbacks[1]);
-        }
-    }
-
-    function autoformat_text (text, kernel_config) {
-        return new Promise(function (resolve, reject) {
-            kernel_config = kernel_config || get_kernel_config();
-            var kernel_str = transform_json_string_to_kernel_string(
-                JSON.stringify(text), kernel_config);
-            Jupyter.notebook.kernel.execute(
-                kernel_config.prefix + kernel_str + kernel_config.postfix,
-                {iopub: {output: function (msg) {
-                    return resolve(convert_error_msg_to_broken_promise(msg).then(
-                        function on_success (msg) {
-                            // print goes to stream text => msg.content.text
-                            var formatted_text = String(JSON.parse(msg.content.text));
-                            if (kernel_config.trim_formatted_text) {
-                                formatted_text = formatted_text.trim();
-                            }
-                            return formatted_text;
-                        }
-                    ));
-                }}},
-                {silent: false}
-            );
-        });
-    }
-
-    function add_toolbar_button () {
-        if ($('#code_prettify_button').length < 1) {
-            Jupyter.toolbar.add_buttons_group([{
-                'label': 'Code prettify',
-                'icon': 'fa-legal',
-                'callback': function (evt) { autoformat_cells(); },
-                'id': 'code_prettify_button'
-            }]);
-        }
-    }
-
-    function assign_hotkeys_from_config () {
         mod_edit_shortcuts[cfg.hotkey] = {
             help: "code prettify",
             help_index: 'yf',
-            handler: function (evt) { autoformat_cells(); },
+            handler: function(evt) {
+                return kernel_exec_on_cell.autoformat_cells(cfg_code_prettify);
+            },
         };
-        mod_edit_shortcuts[cfg.prettify_all_hotkey] = {
+
+        mod_edit_shortcuts[cfg.process_all_hotkey] = {
             help: "code prettify the whole notebook",
             help_index: 'yf',
-            handler: function (evt) { 
-                var indices = []; var N = Jupyter.notebook.ncells();
-                for (var i = 0; i <= N; i++) {
-                    indices.push(i);
-                } 
-                autoformat_cells(indices); },
+            handler: function(evt) {
+                return function() {
+                    var indices = [];
+                    var N = Jupyter.notebook.ncells();
+                    for (var i = 0; i <= N; i++) {
+                        indices.push(i);
+                    }
+                    kernel_exec_on_cell.autoformat_cells(cfg_code_prettify, indices);
+                }
+            }(),
         };
-        mod_cmd_shortcuts[cfg.prettify_all_hotkey] = mod_edit_shortcuts[cfg.prettify_all_hotkey]
-    }
-
-    function setup_for_new_kernel () {
-        var kernelLanguage = Jupyter.notebook.metadata.kernelspec.language.toLowerCase();
-        var kernel_config = cfg.kernel_config_map[kernelLanguage];
-        if (kernel_config === undefined) {
-            $('#code_prettify_button').remove();
-            alert(mod_log_prefix +  " Sorry, can't use kernel language " + kernelLanguage + ".\n" +
-                  "Configurations are currently only defined for the following languages:\n" +
-                  ', '.join(Object.keys(cfg.kernel_config_map)) + "\n" +
-                  "See readme for more details.");
-        } else {
-            if (cfg.add_toolbar_button) {
-                add_toolbar_button();
-            }
-            if (cfg.register_hotkey) {
-                Jupyter.keyboard_manager.edit_shortcuts.add_shortcuts(mod_edit_shortcuts);
-                Jupyter.keyboard_manager.command_shortcuts.add_shortcuts(mod_cmd_shortcuts);
-            }
-            Jupyter.notebook.kernel.execute(
-                kernel_config.library,
-                { iopub: { output: convert_error_msg_to_broken_promise } },
-                { silent: false }
-            );
+        mod_cmd_shortcuts[cfg.process_all_hotkey] = mod_edit_shortcuts[cfg.process_all_hotkey]
+        if (cfg.register_hotkey) {
+            Jupyter.keyboard_manager.edit_shortcuts.add_shortcuts(mod_edit_shortcuts);
+            Jupyter.keyboard_manager.command_shortcuts.add_shortcuts(mod_cmd_shortcuts);
         }
     }
 
     function load_notebook_extension () {
-        var base_url = utils.get_body_data("baseUrl");
-        var conf_section = new ConfigSection('notebook', {base_url: base_url});
-        // first, load config
-        conf_section.load()
-        // now update default config with that loaded from server
-        .then(function on_success (config_data) {
-            $.extend(true, cfg, config_data[mod_name]);
-        }, function on_error (err) {
-            console.warn(mod_log_prefix, 'error loading config:', err);
-        })
-        // next parse json config values
-        .then(function on_success () {
-            var parsed_kernel_cfg = JSON.parse(cfg.kernel_config_map_json);
-            $.extend(cfg.kernel_config_map, parsed_kernel_cfg);
-        })
-        // if we failed to parse the json values in the config
-        // using catch pattern, we attempt to continue anyway using defaults
-        .catch(function on_error (err) {
-            console.warn(
-                mod_log_prefix, 'error parsing config variable',
-                mod_name + '.kernel_config_map_json to a json object:',
-                err
-            );
-        })
-        // now do things which required the config to be loaded
-        .then(function on_success () {
-            assign_hotkeys_from_config(); // initialize hotkey
-            // kernel may already have been loaded before we get here, in which
-            // case we've missed the kernel_ready.Kernel event, so try this
-            if (typeof Jupyter.notebook.kernel !== "undefined" && Jupyter.notebook.kernel !== null) {
-                setup_for_new_kernel();
+          console.log("Executing kernel_exec_on_cell load_ipython")
+          kernel_exec_on_cell.main(mod_name, mod_log_prefix, cfg);
+          //kernel_exec_on_cell.
+          assign_hotkeys_from_config(kernel_exec_on_cell.bigCfg['code_prettify']);
             }
 
-            // on kernel_ready.Kernel, a new kernel has been started
-            events.on("kernel_ready.Kernel", function(event, data) {
-                console.log(mod_log_prefix, 'restarting for new kernel_ready.Kernel event');
-                setup_for_new_kernel();
-            });
-        });
-    }
-
     return {
         load_ipython_extension: load_notebook_extension
     };
diff --git a/code_prettify.yaml b/code_prettify.yaml
index 04294f5..2401f96 100644
--- a/code_prettify.yaml
+++ b/code_prettify.yaml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ Parameters:
   description: Hotkey to use to prettify the selected cell(s)
   input_type: hotkey
   default: 'Ctrl-L'
-- name: code_prettify.prettify_all_hotkey
+- name: code_prettify.process_all_hotkey
   description: Hotkey to use to prettify the whole notebook
   input_type: hotkey
   default: 'Ctrl-Shift-L'  
@@ -49,3 +49,15 @@ Parameters:
         "postfix": ")));"
       }
     }
+- name: code_prettify.extension_name
+  description: extension name
+  input_type: text
+  default: 'code_prettify'
+- name: code_prettify.extension_label
+  description: and icon label
+  input_type: text
+  default: 'Code prettify' 
+- name: code_prettify.extension_icon
+  description: as well as the awesome font name for the button icon
+  input_type: text
+  default: 'fa-legal'  
\ No newline at end of file