Developer workspaces

Eclipse Che provides developer workspaces with everything you need to code, build, test, run, and debug applications:

  • Project source code

  • Web-based integrated development environment (IDE)

  • Tool dependencies needed by developers to work on a project

  • Application runtime: a replica of the environment where the application runs in production

Pods manage each component of a Che workspace. Therefore, everything running in a Che workspace is running inside containers. This makes a Che workspace highly portable.

The embedded browser-based IDE is the point of access for everything running in a Che workspace. This makes a Che workspace easy to share.

By default, it is possible to run only one workspace at a time. To increase the number of concurrent workspaces a user can run, update the CheCluster:

$ kubectl patch checluster/eclipse-che -n eclipse-che --type=merge \
-p '{ "spec": { "server": { "customCheProperties": { "CHE_LIMITS_USER_WORKSPACES_RUN_COUNT": "-1" } } } }'

For additional information, see: installation-guide:advanced-configuration-options-for-the-che-server-component.adoc#users-workspace-limits.
Table 1. Features and benefits
Features Traditional IDE workspaces Eclipse Che workspaces

Configuration and installation required

Yes.

No.

Embedded tools

Partial. IDE plug-ins need configuration. Dependencies need installation and configuration. Example: JDK, Maven, Node.

Yes. Plug-ins provide their dependencies.

Application runtime provided

No. Developers have to manage that separately.

Yes. Application runtime is replicated in the workspace.

Shareable

No. Or not easily

Yes. Developer workspaces are shareable with a URL.

Capable of being versioned

No

Yes. Devfiles exist with project source code.

Accessible from anywhere

No. Installation is needed.

Yes. Only requires a browser.

Start a Che workspace:

Use the Dashboard to discover Che 7.42:

Use a devfile as the preferred way to start a Che 7.42 workspace:

Use the browser-based IDE as the preferred way to interact with a Che 7.42 workspace. For an alternative way to interact with a Che 7.42 workspace, see: Remotely accessing workspaces.

It is common for code repositories to display badges in their README files that describe various aspects of the project, such as its test coverage, latest build status, link to documentation, and other things. For example, the Che GitHub README has the following badges:

eclipse che badges

To make the process of using Che easier, the following badge is available: Factory Badge

Use this badge and link it to a Che instance to quickly open a developer workspace.

Including the developer workspace badge in a README

Procedure

  1. To open a workspace in your Che installation, substitute your URL and repository:

    [![Contribute](https://www.eclipse.org/che/contribute.svg)](https://your-che-host.com/f?url=https://your-repository-url)

  2. Add the link to your repository in the project README file.

Example: Using workspaces.openshift.com as the Che host and a GitHub repository

The following snippet creates a badge that opens a developer workspace of the repository at https://github.com/org/repository in workspaces.openshift.com:

[![Contribute](https://www.eclipse.org/che/contribute.svg)](https://workspaces.openshift.com/f?url=https://github.com/org/repository)