Web IDEs and Coder Apps

In Coder, web IDEs are defined as coder_app resources in the template. With our generic model, any web application can be used as a Coder application. For example:

# Add button to open Portainer in the workspace dashboard
# Note: Portainer must be already running in the workspace
resource "coder_app" "portainer" {
  agent_id      = coder_agent.main.id
  slug          = "portainer"
  display_name  = "Portainer"
  icon          = "https://simpleicons.org/icons/portainer.svg"
  url           = "https://localhost:9443/api/status"

  healthcheck {
    url       = "https://localhost:9443/api/status"
    interval  = 6
    threshold = 10
  }
}

code-server

code-server is our supported method of running VS Code in the web browser. A simple way to install code-server in Linux/macOS workspaces is via the Coder agent in your template:

# edit your template
cd your-template/
vim main.tf

resource "coder_agent" "main" {
    arch           = "amd64"
    os             = "linux"
    startup_script = <<EOF
    #!/bin/sh
    # install code-server
    # add '-s -- --version x.x.x' to install a specific code-server version
    curl -fsSL https://code-server.dev/install.sh | sh -s -- --method=standalone --prefix=/tmp/code-server

    # start code-server on a specific port
    # authn is off since the user already authn-ed into the coder deployment
    # & is used to run the process in the background
    /tmp/code-server/bin/code-server --auth none --port 13337 &
    EOF
}

For advanced use, we recommend installing code-server in your VM snapshot or container image. Here's a Dockerfile which leverages some special code-server features:

FROM codercom/enterprise-base:ubuntu

# install the latest version
USER root
RUN curl -fsSL https://code-server.dev/install.sh | sh
USER coder

# pre-install VS Code extensions
RUN code-server --install-extension eamodio.gitlens

# directly start code-server with the agent's startup_script (see above),
# or use a process manager like supervisord

You'll also need to specify a coder_app resource related to the agent. This is how code-server is displayed on the workspace page.

resource "coder_app" "code-server" {
  agent_id     = coder_agent.main.id
  slug         = "code-server"
  display_name = "code-server"
  url          = "http://localhost:13337/?folder=/home/coder"
  icon         = "/icon/code.svg"
  subdomain    = false

  healthcheck {
    url       = "http://localhost:13337/healthz"
    interval  = 2
    threshold = 10
  }

}

VS Code Web

VS Code supports launching a local web client using the code serve-web command. To add VS Code web as a web IDE, you have two options.

Install using the vscode-web module from the coder registry.

module "vscode-web" {
  source         = "registry.coder.com/modules/vscode-web/coder"
  version        = "1.0.14"
  agent_id       = coder_agent.main.id
  accept_license = true
}

Install and start in your startup_script and create a corresponding coder_app

resource "coder_agent" "main" {
    arch           = "amd64"
    os             = "linux"
    startup_script = <<EOF
    #!/bin/sh
    # install VS Code
    curl -Lk 'https://code.visualstudio.com/sha/download?build=stable&os=cli-alpine-x64' --output vscode_cli.tar.gz
    mkdir -p /tmp/vscode-cli
    tar -xf vscode_cli.tar.gz -C /tmp/vscode-cli
    rm vscode_cli.tar.gz
    # start the web server on a specific port
    /tmp/vscode-cli/code serve-web --port 13338 --without-connection-token  --accept-server-license-terms >/tmp/vscode-web.log 2>&1 &
    EOF
}

code serve-web was introduced in version 1.82.0 (August 2023).

You also need to add a coder_app resource for this.

# VS Code Web
resource "coder_app" "vscode-web" {
  agent_id     = coder_agent.coder.id
  slug         = "vscode-web"
  display_name = "VS Code Web"
  icon         = "/icon/code.svg"
  url          = "http://localhost:13338?folder=/home/coder"
  subdomain    = true  # VS Code Web does currently does not work with a subpath https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/192947
  share        = "owner"
}

Jupyter Notebook

To use Jupyter Notebook in your workspace, you can install it by using the Jupyter Notebook module from the Coder registry:

module "jupyter-notebook" {
  source   = "registry.coder.com/modules/jupyter-notebook/coder"
  version  = "1.0.19"
  agent_id = coder_agent.example.id
}

JupyterLab

Configure your agent and coder_app like so to use Jupyter. Notice the subdomain=true configuration:

data "coder_workspace" "me" {}

resource "coder_agent" "coder" {
  os             = "linux"
  arch           = "amd64"
  dir            = "/home/coder"
  startup_script = <<-EOF
pip3 install jupyterlab
$HOME/.local/bin/jupyter lab --ServerApp.token='' --ip='*'
EOF
}

resource "coder_app" "jupyter" {
  agent_id     = coder_agent.coder.id
  slug         = "jupyter"
  display_name = "JupyterLab"
  url          = "http://localhost:8888"
  icon         = "/icon/jupyter.svg"
  share        = "owner"
  subdomain    = true

  healthcheck {
    url       = "http://localhost:8888/healthz"
    interval  = 5
    threshold = 10
  }
}

Or Alternatively, you can use the JupyterLab module from the Coder registry:

module "jupyter" {
  source   = "registry.coder.com/modules/jupyter-lab/coder"
  version  = "1.0.0"
  agent_id = coder_agent.main.id
}

If you cannot enable a wildcard subdomain, you can configure the template to run Jupyter on a path. There is however security risk running an app on a path and the template code is more complicated with coder value substitution to recreate the path structure.

RStudio

Configure your agent and coder_app like so to use RStudio. Notice the subdomain=true configuration:

resource "coder_agent" "coder" {
  os             = "linux"
  arch           = "amd64"
  dir            = "/home/coder"
  startup_script = <<EOT
#!/bin/bash
# start rstudio
/usr/lib/rstudio-server/bin/rserver --server-daemonize=1 --auth-none=1 &
EOT
}

resource "coder_app" "rstudio" {
  agent_id      = coder_agent.coder.id
  slug          = "rstudio"
  display_name  = "R Studio"
  icon          = "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/RStudio_logo_flat.svg"
  url           = "http://localhost:8787"
  subdomain     = true
  share         = "owner"

  healthcheck {
    url       = "http://localhost:8787/healthz"
    interval  = 3
    threshold = 10
  }
}

If you cannot enable a wildcard subdomain, you can configure the template to run RStudio on a path using an NGINX reverse proxy in the template. There is however security risk running an app on a path and the template code is more complicated with coder value substitution to recreate the path structure.

This is a community template example.

Airflow

Configure your agent and coder_app like so to use Airflow. Notice the subdomain=true configuration:

resource "coder_agent" "coder" {
  os   = "linux"
  arch = "amd64"
  dir  = "/home/coder"
  startup_script = <<EOT
#!/bin/bash
# install and start airflow
pip3 install apache-airflow
/home/coder/.local/bin/airflow standalone &
EOT
}

resource "coder_app" "airflow" {
  agent_id      = coder_agent.coder.id
  slug          = "airflow"
  display_name  = "Airflow"
  icon          = "/icon/airflow.svg"
  url           = "http://localhost:8080"
  subdomain     = true
  share         = "owner"

  healthcheck {
    url       = "http://localhost:8080/healthz"
    interval  = 10
    threshold = 60
  }
}

or use the Airflow module from the Coder registry:

module "airflow" {
  source   = "registry.coder.com/modules/airflow/coder"
  version  = "1.0.13"
  agent_id = coder_agent.main.id
}

File Browser

To access the contents of a workspace directory in a browser, you can use File Browser. File Browser is a lightweight file manager that allows you to view and manipulate files in a web browser.

Show and manipulate the contents of the /home/coder directory in a browser.

resource "coder_agent" "coder" {
  os   = "linux"
  arch = "amd64"
  dir  = "/home/coder"
  startup_script = <<EOT
#!/bin/bash

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/filebrowser/get/master/get.sh | bash
filebrowser --noauth --root /home/coder --port 13339 >/tmp/filebrowser.log 2>&1 &

EOT
}

resource "coder_app" "filebrowser" {
  agent_id     = coder_agent.coder.id
  display_name = "file browser"
  slug         = "filebrowser"
  url          = "http://localhost:13339"
  icon         = "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/matifali/logos/main/database.svg"
  subdomain    = true
  share        = "owner"

  healthcheck {
    url       = "http://localhost:13339/healthz"
    interval  = 3
    threshold = 10
  }
}

Or alternatively, you can use the filebrowser module from the Coder registry:

module "filebrowser" {
  source   = "registry.coder.com/modules/filebrowser/coder"
  version  = "1.0.8"
  agent_id = coder_agent.main.id
}

SSH Fallback

If you prefer to run web IDEs in localhost, you can port forward using SSH or the Coder CLI port-forward sub-command. Some web IDEs may not support URL base path adjustment so port forwarding is the only approach.

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