GitHub Codespaces allows teams and organizations to spin-up developer environments directly from a browser or through Visual Studio Code, without the hassle of setting up a brand new environment tailored to a specific repository.
We've been hard at work since our general availability announcement in August making Codespaces the best way for you to develop software, which is why we're so happy to announce several new features at GitHub Universe 2021.
We know that many developers use the gh CLI to speed up or fully automate daily tasks, and we've received dozens of requests to add Codespaces support to the CLI. As of today, the gh codespace (or gh cs for those saving keystrokes) command now allows developers to manage their codespaces from the GitHub CLI. In addition to codespace creation, listing, and starting/stopping, users can forward ports, set port visibility, SSH into their codespaces, and copy files to/from their codespaces.
# Create a new codespace via the CLI
gh codespace create --repo monalisa/octocat --branch main
We're especially excited about ssh access, as it allows developers who prefer to use editors like vim and emacs to more easily develop in Codespaces. Just gh cs ssh into your codespace and launch your editor of choice; we'll set up the environment and grab all your dotfiles so you're ready to develop in seconds.
# SSH into the codespace created above
gh codespace ssh -c monalisa-monalisa-octocat-1337h4x0r
Complimenting the CLI, we are also launching an API in beta. The API provides control plane operations around a user's codespaces including creating, starting/stopping, listing available machine types, and setting user secrets. These APIs will allow developers to build Codespaces integrations into their favorite editors and tools, as well as allow for additional automation around Codespaces.
# Stop a running codespace via the API
curl https://api.github.com/user/codespaces/monalisa-monalisa-octocat-1337h4x0r/stop \
-H "Authorization: token <Personal Access Token>" \
-X POST
We also know that security and privacy are critical, and we've gotten a lot of feedback on providing additional visibility options for forwarded ports beyond public and private. Today we're launching a third option: org visible ports, which are accessible to any user in the organization the codespace has been created in. This is great for securely collaborating with your teammates on new and exciting features in your codespaces.
# Make port 80 visible to all users in an org
gh codespace ports visibility 80:org -c monalisa-monalisa-octocat-1337h4x0r
Continuing with security improvements, we have also heard from developers having difficulty launching codespaces from devcontainers stored in private container registries. To make this easier, we are offering streamlined access to containers stored in the GitHub Container Registry; you no longer have to provide a Personal Access Token (PAT).
Speaking of devcontainers, we know that there's a wide gap between using a predefined devcontainer and building a custom devcontainer. To help make that transition a little easier, we're launching the ability to extend devcontainers with features, which include shells, package managers, programming languages, and other common tools. For example, adding Terraform to a supported base image is as easy as adding the following to your devcontainer.json.
"features": {
"terraform": "latest"
}
If you have any feedback about these features, or Codespaces in general, we'd love to hear from you!
Organizations using GitHub Enterprise Cloud now have more granular control over the repository access permissions they can grant to users, with custom repository roles – now available in Beta.
A custom repository role is created by an organization owner, and is available across all repositories in that organization. Each role can be given a custom name, and a description. It can be configured from a set of over 40 fine grained permissions. Once created, repository admins can assign a custom role to any user, team or outside collaborator in their repository.
Custom repository roles can be created, viewed, edited and deleted via the new Repository roles tab in Organization settings.
Custom repository roles are also fully supported in the GitHub REST APIs. The Organizations API can be used to list all custom repository roles in an organization, and the existing APIs for granting repository access to individuals and teams have been extended to support custom repository roles.
To get started with custom repository roles, read the docs.
A command palette beta is now available for all users across github.com. Quickly navigate to your organizations and repositories, and use modes to find and jump-to pull requests, issues, projects, files, and more. Execute commands to optimize your workflows, all from the keyboard.
Open the command palette using one of the following keyboard shortcuts:
Windows and Linux: Ctl k or Ctl alt k
Mac: ⌘ k or ⌘ option k
To open directly to command mode:
Windows and Linux: Ctrl shift k or Ctl shift k
Mac: ⌘ shift k or ⌘ shift k
With the command palette open, use modes to find specific types of resources and execute commands:
> Enter command mode
# Search for issues, pull requests, discussions, and projects
! Search for projects
@ Search for users, organizations, and repositories
