|
1 |
| -# Coder Documentation |
| 1 | +# About Coder |
| 2 | + |
| 3 | +Coder is an open source platform for creating and managing developer workspaces |
| 4 | +on your preferred clouds and servers. |
| 5 | + |
| 6 | +By building on top of common development interfaces (SSH) and infrastructure tools (Terraform), Coder aims to make the process of **provisioning** and **accessing** remote workspaces approachable for organizations of various sizes and stages of cloud-native maturity. |
| 7 | + |
| 8 | +> ⚠️ Coder v2 is in **alpha** state and is not ready for production use. For |
| 9 | +> production environments, please consider [Coder v1](https://coder.com/docs) or |
| 10 | +> [code-server](https://github.com/cdr/code-server). |
| 11 | +
|
| 12 | +## How it works |
| 13 | + |
| 14 | +Coder workspaces are represented with Terraform. But, no Terraform knowledge is |
| 15 | +required to get started. We have a database of pre-made templates built into the |
| 16 | +product. |
2 | 17 |
|
3 | 18 | <p align="center">
|
4 |
| - <img src="images/hero-image.png"> |
| 19 | + <img src="./images/providers-compute.png"> |
5 | 20 | </p>
|
6 | 21 |
|
7 |
| -## Table of Contents |
8 |
| - |
9 |
| -- [About Coder](./about.md#about-coder) |
10 |
| - - [Why remote development](./about.md#why-remote-development) |
11 |
| - - [Why Coder](./about.md#why-coder) |
12 |
| - - [What Coder is not](./about.md#what-coder-is-not) |
13 |
| - - [Comparison: Coder vs. [product]](./about.md#comparison) |
14 |
| -- [Quickstart](./quickstart.md) |
15 |
| - - [Creating your first template and workspace](./quickstart.md#creating-your-first-template-and-workspace) |
16 |
| - - [Modifying templates](./quickstart.md#modifying-templates) |
17 |
| -- [Templates](./templates.md) |
18 |
| - - [Manage templates](./templates.md#manage-templates) |
19 |
| - - [Persistent and ephemeral |
20 |
| - resources](./templates.md#persistent-and-ephemeral-resources) |
21 |
| - - [Parameters](./templates.md#parameters) |
22 |
| -- [Workspaces](./workspaces.md) |
23 |
| - - [Create workspaces](./workspaces.md#create-workspaces) |
24 |
| - - [Connect with SSH](./workspaces.md#connect-with-ssh) |
25 |
| - - [Editors and IDEs](./workspaces.md#editors-and-ides) |
26 |
| - - [Workspace lifecycle](./workspaces.md#workspace-lifecycle) |
27 |
| - - [Updating workspaces](./workspaces.md#updating-workspaces) |
| 22 | +Coder workspaces don't stop at compute. You can add storage buckets, secrets, sidecars |
| 23 | +and whatever else Terraform lets you dream up. |
| 24 | + |
| 25 | +[Learn more about managing infrastructure.](./templates.md) |
| 26 | + |
| 27 | +## IDE Support |
| 28 | + |
| 29 | +You can use any Web IDE ([code-server](https://github.com/coder/code-server), [projector](https://github.com/JetBrains/projector-server), [Jupyter](https://jupyter.org/), etc.), [JetBrains Gateway](https://www.jetbrains.com/remote-development/gateway/), [VS Code Remote](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/ssh-tutorial) or even a file sync such as [mutagen](https://mutagen.io/). |
| 30 | + |
| 31 | +<p align="center"> |
| 32 | + <img src="./images/ide-icons.svg" height=72> |
| 33 | +</p> |
| 34 | + |
| 35 | +## Why remote development |
| 36 | + |
| 37 | +Migrating from local developer machines to workspaces hosted by cloud services |
| 38 | +is an increasingly common solution for developers[^1] and organizations[^2] |
| 39 | +alike. There are several benefits, including: |
| 40 | + |
| 41 | +- **Increased speed:** Server-grade compute speeds up operations in software |
| 42 | + development, such as IDE loading, code compilation and building, and the |
| 43 | + running of large workloads (such as those for monolith or microservice |
| 44 | + applications) |
| 45 | + |
| 46 | +- **Easier environment management:** Tools such as Terraform, nix, Docker, |
| 47 | + devcontainers, and so on make developer onboarding and the troubleshooting of |
| 48 | + development environments easier |
| 49 | + |
| 50 | +- **Increase security:** Centralize source code and other data onto private |
| 51 | + servers or cloud services instead of local developer machines |
| 52 | + |
| 53 | +- **Improved compatibility:** Remote workspaces share infrastructure |
| 54 | + configuration with other development, staging, and production environments, |
| 55 | + reducing configuration drift |
| 56 | + |
| 57 | +- **Improved accessibility:** Devices such as lightweight notebooks, |
| 58 | + Chromebooks, and iPads can connect to remote workspaces via browser-based IDEs |
| 59 | + or remote IDE extensions |
| 60 | + |
| 61 | +## Why Coder |
| 62 | + |
| 63 | +The key difference between Coder v2 and other remote IDE platforms is the added |
| 64 | +layer of infrastructure control. This additional layer allows admins to: |
| 65 | + |
| 66 | +- Support ARM, Windows, Linux, and macOS workspaces |
| 67 | +- Modify pod/container specs (e.g., adding disks, managing network policies, |
| 68 | + setting/updating environment variables) |
| 69 | +- Use VM/dedicated workspaces, developing with Kernel features (no container |
| 70 | + knowledge required) |
| 71 | +- Enable persistent workspaces, which are like local machines, but faster and |
| 72 | + hosted by a cloud service |
| 73 | + |
| 74 | +Coder includes [production-ready templates](../examples/templates) for use with AWS EC2, |
| 75 | +Azure, Google Cloud, Kubernetes, and more. |
| 76 | + |
| 77 | +## What Coder is _not_ |
| 78 | + |
| 79 | +- Coder is not an infrastructure as code (IaC) platform. Terraform is the first |
| 80 | + IaC _provisioner_ in Coder, allowing Coder admins to define Terraform |
| 81 | + resources as Coder workspaces. |
| 82 | + |
| 83 | +- Coder is not a DevOps/CI platform. Coder workspaces can follow best practices |
| 84 | + for cloud service-based workloads, but Coder is not responsible for how you |
| 85 | + define or deploy the software you write. |
| 86 | + |
| 87 | +- Coder is not an online IDE. Instead, Coder supports common editors, such as VS |
| 88 | + Code, vim, and JetBrains, over HTTPS or SSH. |
| 89 | + |
| 90 | +- Coder is not a collaboration platform. You can use git and dedicated IDE |
| 91 | + extensions for pull requests, code reviews, and pair programming. |
| 92 | + |
| 93 | +- Coder is not a SaaS/fully-managed offering. You must host |
| 94 | + Coder on a cloud service (AWS, Azure, GCP) or your private data center. |
| 95 | + |
| 96 | +Next: [Templates](./templates.md) |
| 97 | + |
| 98 | +[^1]: alexellis.io: [The Internet is my computer](https://blog.alexellis.io/the-internet-is-my-computer/) |
| 99 | +[^2]: slack.engineering: [Development environments at Slack](https://slack.engineering/development-environments-at-slack) |
0 commit comments