diff --git a/notebooks/atai_2026/tutorial.ipynb b/notebooks/atai_2026/tutorial.ipynb
index 4d4a8fa..7b885e1 100644
--- a/notebooks/atai_2026/tutorial.ipynb
+++ b/notebooks/atai_2026/tutorial.ipynb
@@ -33,12 +33,15 @@
    },
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
-    "# Install ollama.\n",
-    "!curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh > /dev/null\n",
-    "!nohup ollama serve >/dev/null 2>&1 &\n",
-    "\n",
-    "# Download the granite4:3b weights.\n",
-    "!ollama pull granite4:latest\n",
+    "# One-time setup: install Mellea, then restart the runtime. This MUST be a\n",
+    "# separate cell that ends by restarting, and it must run before ollama or any\n",
+    "# import. Installing mellea upgrades Colab's preinstalled pillow (11.x, which\n",
+    "# predates `_Ink`) to a newer pillow (12.x), but this kernel already imported the\n",
+    "# old PIL and keeps serving its cached PIL._typing (which lacks `_Ink`) even after\n",
+    "# pip swaps the new files onto disk -- so docling would fail with\n",
+    "# 'ImportError: cannot import name _Ink from PIL._typing'. The disk is already\n",
+    "# correct after install; only the running kernel is stale, so restarting it is the\n",
+    "# whole fix. After the restart, run the next cell.\n",
     "\n",
     "# install Mellea.\n",
     "!uv pip install \"mellea[hf,docling,sandbox,tools]\"\n",
@@ -46,6 +49,27 @@
     "# install additional dependencies.\n",
     "!uv pip install matplotlib \"omegaconf>=2.3\" \"ipywidgets>=8.1.8\"\n",
     "\n",
+    "# Restart the runtime so the kernel reloads the freshly installed pillow.\n",
+    "import IPython  # noqa: E402\n",
+    "IPython.Application.instance().kernel.do_shutdown(True)\n"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "source": [
+    "# Setup (run after the restart above). ollama, model weights, supporting files, and\n",
+    "# display niceties all live here rather than in the install cell, because that cell\n",
+    "# restarts the runtime -- which would kill the ollama server and discard the display\n",
+    "# hooks and logger config.\n",
+    "\n",
+    "# Install and start ollama.\n",
+    "!curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh > /dev/null\n",
+    "!nohup ollama serve >/dev/null 2>&1 &\n",
+    "\n",
+    "# Download the granite4:3b weights.\n",
+    "!ollama pull granite4:latest\n",
+    "\n",
     "# Get supporting files.\n",
     "!wget https://nfulton.org/atai26.tar.gz\n",
     "!tar xvfz atai26.tar.gz\n",
diff --git a/notebooks/icml_2026/tutorial.ipynb b/notebooks/icml_2026/tutorial.ipynb
index 9e0744c..2b69add 100644
--- a/notebooks/icml_2026/tutorial.ipynb
+++ b/notebooks/icml_2026/tutorial.ipynb
@@ -37,12 +37,15 @@
    },
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
-    "# Install ollama. Uncomment if you don't have ollama installed / running.\n",
-    "# !curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh > /dev/null\n",
-    "# !nohup ollama serve >/dev/null 2>&1 &\n",
-    "\n",
-    "# Download the granite4.1:3b weights.\n",
-    "!ollama pull granite4.1:3b\n",
+    "# One-time setup: install Mellea, then restart the runtime. This MUST be a\n",
+    "# separate cell that ends by restarting, and it must run before ollama or any\n",
+    "# import. Installing mellea upgrades Colab's preinstalled pillow (11.x, which\n",
+    "# predates `_Ink`) to a newer pillow (12.x), but this kernel already imported the\n",
+    "# old PIL and keeps serving its cached PIL._typing (which lacks `_Ink`) even after\n",
+    "# pip swaps the new files onto disk -- so docling would fail with\n",
+    "# 'ImportError: cannot import name _Ink from PIL._typing'. The disk is already\n",
+    "# correct after install; only the running kernel is stale, so restarting it is the\n",
+    "# whole fix. After the restart, run the next cell.\n",
     "\n",
     "# install Mellea.\n",
     "!uv pip install \"mellea[hf,docling,sandbox,tools]==0.6.0\"\n",
@@ -50,6 +53,27 @@
     "# install additional dependencies.\n",
     "!uv pip install matplotlib \"omegaconf>=2.3\" \"ipywidgets>=8.1.8\"\n",
     "\n",
+    "# Restart the runtime so the kernel reloads the freshly installed pillow.\n",
+    "import IPython  # noqa: E402\n",
+    "IPython.Application.instance().kernel.do_shutdown(True)\n"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "source": [
+    "# Setup (run after the restart above). ollama, model weights, supporting files, and\n",
+    "# display niceties all live here rather than in the install cell, because that cell\n",
+    "# restarts the runtime -- which would kill the ollama server and discard the display\n",
+    "# hooks and logger config.\n",
+    "\n",
+    "# Install ollama. Uncomment if you don't have ollama installed / running.\n",
+    "# !curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh > /dev/null\n",
+    "# !nohup ollama serve >/dev/null 2>&1 &\n",
+    "\n",
+    "# Download the granite4.1:3b weights.\n",
+    "!ollama pull granite4.1:3b\n",
+    "\n",
     "# Get supporting files.\n",
     "!curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/generative-computing/mellea-tutorials/refs/heads/main/notebooks/icml_2026/construction_docs.tar.gz | tar -xzf -\n",
     "\n",
diff --git a/notebooks/orlando_2025/tutorial.ipynb b/notebooks/orlando_2025/tutorial.ipynb
index bf96ef2..880205b 100644
--- a/notebooks/orlando_2025/tutorial.ipynb
+++ b/notebooks/orlando_2025/tutorial.ipynb
@@ -36,17 +36,41 @@
    },
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
-    "# Install ollama.\n",
+    "# One-time setup: install Mellea, then restart the runtime. This MUST be a\n",
+    "# separate cell that ends by restarting, and it must run before ollama or any\n",
+    "# import. Installing mellea upgrades Colab's preinstalled pillow (11.x, which\n",
+    "# predates `_Ink`) to a newer pillow (12.x), but this kernel already imported the\n",
+    "# old PIL and keeps serving its cached PIL._typing (which lacks `_Ink`) even after\n",
+    "# pip swaps the new files onto disk -- so docling would fail with\n",
+    "# 'ImportError: cannot import name _Ink from PIL._typing'. The disk is already\n",
+    "# correct after install; only the running kernel is stale, so restarting it is the\n",
+    "# whole fix. After the restart, run the next cell.\n",
+    "\n",
+    "# install Mellea.\n",
+    "!uv pip install mellea[all] -q\n",
+    "\n",
+    "# Restart the runtime so the kernel reloads the freshly installed pillow.\n",
+    "import IPython  # noqa: E402\n",
+    "IPython.Application.instance().kernel.do_shutdown(True)\n"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "source": [
+    "# Setup (run after the restart above). ollama, model weights, the docling warm-up,\n",
+    "# and display niceties all live here rather than in the install cell, because that\n",
+    "# cell restarts the runtime -- which would kill the ollama server, discard the\n",
+    "# display hooks, and run docling against the stale (pre-restart) pillow.\n",
+    "\n",
+    "# Install and start ollama.\n",
     "!curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh > /dev/null\n",
     "!nohup ollama serve >/dev/null 2>&1 &\n",
-    "\n",
+        "\n",
     "# Download model weights for the Granite 4 and Llama 3.2 models.\n",
     "!ollama pull ibm/granite4:micro\n",
     "!ollama pull llama3.2:3b\n",
     "\n",
-    "# install Mellea.\n",
-    "!uv pip install mellea[all] -q\n",
-    "\n",
     "# Run docling once to download model weights.\n",
     "from mellea.stdlib.components.docs.richdocument import RichDocument\n",
     "rd = RichDocument.from_document_file(\"https://arxiv.org/pdf/1906.04043\")\n",
@@ -586,4 +610,4 @@
  },
  "nbformat": 4,
  "nbformat_minor": 4
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}