Workspaces

Workspaces contain the IDEs, dependencies, and configuration information needed for software development.

Create workspaces

Each Coder user has their own workspaces created from shared templates:

# create a workspace from the template; specify any variables
coder create --template="<templateName>" <workspaceName>

# show the resources behind the workspace and how to connect
coder show <workspace-name>

IDEs

Coder supports multiple IDEs for use with your workspaces.

Workspace lifecycle

Workspaces in Coder are started and stopped, often based on whether there was any activity or if there was a template update available.

Resources are often destroyed and re-created when a workspace is restarted, though the exact behavior depends on the template. For more information, see Resource Persistence.

⚠️ To avoid data loss, refer to your template documentation for information on where to store files, install software, etc., so that they persist. Default templates are documented in ../examples/templates.

You can use coder show <workspace-name> to see which resources are persistent and which are ephemeral.

When a workspace is deleted, all of the workspace's resources are deleted.

Workspace scheduling

By default, workspaces are manually turned on/off by the user. However, a schedule can be defined on a per-workspace basis to automate the workspace start/stop.

Auto-start

The auto-start feature automates the workspace build at a user-specified time and day(s) of the week. In addition, users can select their preferred timezone.

Auto-stop

The auto-stop feature shuts off workspaces after given number of hours in the "on" state. If Coder detects workspace connection activity, the auto-stop timer is bumped up one hour. IDE, SSH, Port Forwarding, and coder_app activity trigger this bump.

Updating workspaces

Use the following command to update a workspace to the latest template version. The workspace will be stopped and started:

coder update <workspace-name>

Repairing workspaces

Use the following command to re-enter template input variables in an existing workspace. This command is useful when a workspace fails to build because its state is out of sync with the template.

coder update <your workspace name> --always-prompt

Logging

Coder stores macOS and Linux logs at the following locations:

Service	Location
`startup_script`	`/tmp/coder-startup-script.log`
Agent	`/tmp/coder-agent.log`

Up next

Learn about how to personalize your workspace with Dotfiles
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