Open your project in a cloud development environment

Open your team’s Git repository in a cloud development environment so that you can start coding without installing tools, cloning repositories, or configuring your local environment. Che handles all of this automatically.

You can also use the Git Repository URL field on the Create Workspace page of your Che dashboard to enter the URL of a Git repository 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>.

  • Optional: You have authentication to the Git server configured.

  • Optional: You have a devfile.yaml or .devfile.yaml file in the root directory of the Git repository. Without a devfile, the cloud development environment starts with the Universal Developer Image and the default IDE.

  • For private repositories: you have configured a personal access token or accepted the SCM authentication page to access the repository content. See Access private repositories with a personal access token.

  • For Git+SSH URLs: you have configured an SSH key for Git operations. See Configuring DevWorkspaces to use SSH keys for Git operations.

Procedure

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

  2. Enter the URL in your browser or in the Git Repository URL field on the Create Workspace page to start a new cloud development environment:

    https://<che_fqdn>#<git_repository_url>

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

    For example:

    • https://<che_fqdn>#https://github.com/che-samples/cpp-hello-world

    • https://<che_fqdn>#git@github.com:che-samples/cpp-hello-world.git

      URL syntax per Git provider:

      Table 1. GitHub
      URL pattern

      Default branch: https://<che_fqdn>#https://<github_host>/<user_or_org>/<repository>

      Specified branch: https://<che_fqdn>#https://<github_host>/<user_or_org>/<repository>/tree/<branch_name>

      Pull request branch: https://<che_fqdn>#https://<github_host>/<user_or_org>/<repository>/pull/<pull_request_id>

      Git+SSH: https://<che_fqdn>#git@<github_host>:<user_or_org>/<repository>.git

      For GitHub, you can also use a URL of a directory containing a devfile, or a direct URL to the devfile. The devfile name must be devfile.yaml or .devfile.yaml. Other Git providers do not support this feature.

      Table 2. GitLab
      URL pattern

      Default branch: https://<che_fqdn>#https://<gitlab_host>/<user_or_org>/<repository>

      Specified branch: https://<che_fqdn>#https://<gitlab_host>/<user_or_org>/<repository>/-/tree/<branch_name>

      Git+SSH: https://<che_fqdn>#git@<gitlab_host>:<user_or_org>/<repository>.git
      Table 3. Bitbucket Server
      URL pattern

      Default branch: https://<che_fqdn>#https://<bb_host>/scm/<project-key>/<repository>.git

      Default branch (user profile repository): https://<che_fqdn>#https://<bb_host>/users/<user_slug>/repos/<repository>/

      Specified branch: https://<che_fqdn>#https://<bb_host>/users/<user-slug>/repos/<repository>/browse?at=refs%2Fheads%2F<branch-name>

      Git+SSH: https://<che_fqdn>#git@<bb_host>:<user_slug>/<repository>.git
      Table 4. Microsoft Azure DevOps
      URL pattern

      Default branch: https://<che_fqdn>#https://<organization>@dev.azure.com/<organization>/<project>/_git/<repository>

      Specified branch: https://<che_fqdn>#https://<organization>@dev.azure.com/<organization>/<project>/_git/<repository>?version=GB<branch>

      Git+SSH: https://<che_fqdn>#git@ssh.dev.azure.com:v3/<organization>/<project>/<repository>
Verification

  • After you enter the URL to start a new cloud development environment in a browser tab, the starting page is displayed.

  • When the new cloud development environment is ready, the IDE loads in the browser tab.

  • A clone of the Git repository is present in the filesystem of the new cloud development environment.

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

Additional resources