Chapter 1. Getting started with Dev Spaces

The URL for starting a new workspace supports concatenation of multiple optional URL parameters by using & with the following URL syntax:

https://<openshift_dev_spaces_fqdn>#<git_repository_url>?<url_parameter_1>&<url_parameter_2>&<url_parameter_3>

https://<openshift_dev_spaces_fqdn> 1
#https://github.com/che-samples/cpp-hello-world 2
?new&che-editor=che-incubator/intellij-community/latest&devfilePath=tests/testdevfile.yaml 3

You can use the che-editor= URL parameter to specify a supported IDE when starting a workspace.

This parameter accepts two types of values:

Visiting a URL for starting a new workspace results in a new workspace according to the devfile and with a clone of the linked Git repository.

In some situations, you might need to have multiple workspaces that are duplicates in terms of the devfile and the linked Git repository. You can do this by visiting the same URL for starting a new workspace with a URL parameter.

The URL parameter for starting a duplicate workspace is new:

https://<openshift_dev_spaces_fqdn>#<git_repository_url>?new

When you visit a URL for starting a new workspace, OpenShift Dev Spaces searches the linked Git repository for a devfile with the file name .devfile.yaml or devfile.yaml. The devfile in the linked Git repository must follow this file-naming convention.

In some situations, you might need to specify a different, unconventional file name for the devfile.

The URL parameter for specifying an unconventional file name of the devfile is df=<filename>.yaml:

https://<openshift_dev_spaces_fqdn>#<git_repository_url>?df=<filename>.yaml 1

When you visit a URL for starting a new workspace, OpenShift Dev Spaces searches the root directory of the linked Git repository for a devfile with the file name .devfile.yaml or devfile.yaml. The file path of the devfile in the linked Git repository must follow this path convention.

In some situations, you might need to specify a different, unconventional file path for the devfile in the linked Git repository.

The URL parameter for specifying an unconventional file path of the devfile is devfilePath=<relative_file_path>:

https://<openshift_dev_spaces_fqdn>#<git_repository_url>?devfilePath=<relative_file_path> 1

If the URL for starting a new workspace does not contain a URL parameter specifying the storage type, the new workspace is created in ephemeral or persistent storage, whichever is defined as the default storage type in the CheCluster Custom Resource.

The URL parameter for specifying a storage type for a workspace is storageType=<storage_type>:

https://<openshift_dev_spaces_fqdn>#<git_repository_url>?storageType=<storage_type> 1

When you visit a URL for starting a new workspace, OpenShift Dev Spaces configures the origin remote to be the Git repository that you specified with # after the FQDN URL of your organization’s OpenShift Dev Spaces instance.

The URL parameter for cloning and configuring additional remotes for the workspace is remotes=:

https://<openshift_dev_spaces_fqdn>#<git_repository_url>?remotes={{<name_1>,<url_1>},{<name_2>,<url_2>},{<name_3>,<url_3>},...}

You can use the image parameter to use a custom reference to a container image in the following scenarios:

The URL parameter for the path to the container image is image=:

https://<openshift_dev_spaces_fqdn>#<git_repository_url>?image=<container_image_url>