Create a codespace to start developing in a secure, configurable, and dedicated development environment that works how and where you want it to.

Quickstart for GitHub Codespaces

Get started with GitHub Codespaces quickly.

What are GitHub Codespaces?

Learn about what GitHub Codespaces are.

Understanding the codespace lifecycle

Learn how to develop in a GitHub Codespaces environment, and maintain your data throughout the entire codespace lifecycle.

About GitHub Codespaces prebuilds

GitHub Codespaces prebuilds help to speed up the creation of new codespaces for large or complex repositories.

Adding features to a devcontainer.json file

With features, you can quickly add tools, runtimes, or libraries to your dev container configuration.

Allowing a prebuild to access other repositories

You can permit your prebuild to access other GitHub repositories so that it can be built successfully.

Allowing your codespace to access a private registry

You can allow GitHub Codespaces to access container images or other packages in a private registry.

Automatically opening files in the codespaces for a repository

You can set particular files to be opened automatically whenever someone creates a codespace for your repository and opens the codespace in the Visual Studio Code web client.

Changing the machine type for your codespace

You can change the type of machine that's running your codespace, so that you're using resources appropriate for the work you're doing.

Changing the shell in a codespace

You can change your shell in a codespace to keep the setup you're used to.

Choosing the stable or beta host image

You can choose to build codespaces using either the stable or beta version of the host image for the underlying virtual machine.

Choosing who owns and pays for codespaces in your organization

You can choose whether codespaces are paid for and owned by your organization or by your members.