Web IDEs - Coder v2 Docs

Web IDEs

By default, Coder workspaces allow connections via:

Web terminal
SSH (plus any SSH-compatible IDE)

It's common to also let developers to connect via web IDEs.

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"

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

}

JetBrains Projector

JetBrains Projector is a JetBrains Incubator project which renders JetBrains IDEs in the web browser. JetBrains has suspended the project so Coder no longer provides example templates or support.

Use JetBrains Gateway to remotely connect to a Coder workspace.

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
  }
}

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
}

# rstudio
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
  }
}

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          = "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/AirflowLogo.png"
  url           = "http://localhost:8080"
  subdomain     = true
  share         = "owner"

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

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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