# Workspaces

Workspaces contain the IDEs, dependencies, and configuration information needed
for software development.

## Create workspaces

Each Coder user has their own workspaces created from [shared
templates](./templates.md):

```sh
# create a workspace from the template; specify any variables
coder create --template="<templateName>" <workspaceName>

# show the resources behind the workspace and how to connect
coder show <workspace-name>
```

## IDEs

Coder [supports multiple IDEs](ides.md) for use with your workspaces.

## Workspace lifecycle

Workspaces in Coder are started and stopped, often based on whether there was
any activity or if there was a [template
update](./templates.md#manage-templates) available.

Resources are often destroyed and re-created when a workspace is restarted,
though the exact behavior depends on the template's definitions. For more
information, see [persistent and ephemeral
resources](./templates.md#persistent-and-ephemeral-resources).

> ⚠️ To avoid data loss, refer to your template documentation for information on
> where to store files, install software, etc., so that they persist. Default
> templates are documented in [../examples/templates](https://github.com/coder/coder/tree/c6b1daabc5a7aa67bfbb6c89966d728919ba7f80/examples/templates).
>
> You can use `coder show <workspace-name>` to see which resources are
> persistent and which are ephemeral.

When a workspace is deleted, all of the workspace's resources are deleted.

## Updating workspaces

Use the following command to update a workspace to the latest template version.
The workspace will be stopped and started:

```sh
coder update <workspace-name>
```

---

## Up next

- Learn about how to personalize your workspace with [Dotfiles](./dotfiles.md)
- Learn about using [IDEs](./ides.md)