coder/docs/templates/open-in-coder.md

Open in Coder

An "Open in Coder" button can be embedded into your git repos or internal wikis to allow developers to quickly launch a new workspace.

How it works

To support any infrastructure and software stack, Coder provides a generic approach for "Open in Coder" flows.

1. Set up Git Authentication in your Coder deployment

2. Modify your template to auto-clone repos:

   • If you want the template to clone a specific git repo

     # Require git authentication to use this template
     data "coder_git_auth" "github" {
         id = "github"
     }
     
     resource "coder_agent" "dev" {
         # ...
         dir = "~/coder"
         startup_script =<<EOF
     
         # Clone repo from GitHub
         if [ ! -d "coder" ]
         then
             git clone https://github.com/coder/coder
         fi
     
         EOF
     }
     

     Note: The dir attribute can be set in multiple ways, for example:

     • ~/coder
     • /home/coder/coder
     • coder (relative to the home directory)

   • If you want the template to support any repository via parameters

     # Require git authentication to use this template
     data "coder_git_auth" "github" {
         id = "github"
     }
     
     # Prompt the user for the git repo URL
     data "coder_parameter" "git_repo" {
         name     = "Git repository"
         default  = "https://github.com/coder/coder"
     }
     
     locals {
         folder_name = try(element(split("/", data.coder_parameter.git_repo.value), length(split("/", data.coder_parameter.git_repo.value)) - 1), "")
     }
     
     resource "coder_agent" "dev" {
         # ...
         dir = "~/${local.folder_name}"
         startup_script =<<EOF
     
         # Clone repo from GitHub
         if [ ! -d "${local.folder_name}" ]
         then
             git clone ${data.coder_parameter.git_repo.value}
         fi
     
         EOF
     }
     

3. Embed the "Open in Coder" button with Markdown

   [![Open in Coder](https://YOUR_ACCESS_URL/open-in-coder.svg)](https://YOUR_ACCESS_URL/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/workspace)
   

   Be sure to replace YOUR_ACCESS_URL with your Coder access url (e.g. https://coder.example.com) and YOUR_TEMPLATE with the name of your template.

4. Optional: pre-fill parameter values in the "Create workspace" page

   This can be used to pre-fill the git repo URL, disk size, image, etc.

   [![Open in Coder](https://YOUR_ACCESS_URL/open-in-coder.svg)](https://YOUR_ACCESS_URL/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/workspace?param.Git%20repository=https://github.com/coder/slog&param.Home%20Disk%20Size%20%28GB%29=20)
   

   

Example: Kubernetes

For a full example of the Open in Coder flow in Kubernetes, check out this example template.

Devcontainer support

Devcontainer support is on the roadmap. Follow along here