Exit insert mode in the JupyterLab using vim keybindings

Right now it will only work for the plain text editor. Look at this issue from the jupyterlab GitHub repository. If you want to enable the functionality you are looking for try this plugin jupyterlab_vim.

I had the same issue: Pressing esc in jupyterlab exits current window.

The solution in my case: Disable vimium in chrome for localhost