Start a cloud development environment from a raw devfile URL

Start a cloud development environment from a devfile hosted outside your Git repository so that you can share a standard development environment across teams or test devfile changes before committing them.

You can also use the Git Repo URL field on the Create Workspace page of your Che dashboard to enter the URL of a devfile to start a new cloud development environment.
Prerequisites

  • You have a running instance of Che.

  • You know the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) URL of your organization’s Che instance: https://<che_fqdn>.

  • You have a devfile that includes project information to clone the Git repository. See https://devfile.io/docs/2.2.0/adding-projects.

Procedure

  1. Optional: Open the Che dashboard to authenticate to your organization’s instance of Che.

  2. Enter the devfile URL in your browser to start a new cloud development environment.

    For a public repository:

    https://<che_fqdn>#<devfile_url>

    For a private repository, include your personal access token in the URL:

    https://<che_fqdn>#https://<token>@<host>/<path_to_devfile>

    where:

    <token>

    Your personal access token that you generated on the Git provider’s website. This method works for GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Microsoft Azure, and other providers that support Personal Access Token.

    Automated Git credential injection does not work with token-embedded URLs. To configure Git credentials separately, see Access private repositories with a personal access token.

    To append optional parameters, add ?<optional_parameters> to the URL. See Optional parameters for cloud development environment URLs for supported parameters.

    For example:

    • Public repository: https://<che_fqdn>#https://raw.githubusercontent.com/che-samples/cpp-hello-world/main/devfile.yaml

    • Private repository: https://<che_fqdn>#https://<token>@raw.githubusercontent.com/che-samples/cpp-hello-world/main/devfile.yaml

Verification

  • After you enter the URL, the starting page is displayed in the browser tab.

  • When the cloud development environment is ready, the IDE loads automatically.

  • The cloud development environment has a unique URL: https://<che_fqdn>/<user_name>/<unique_url>.

Additional resources