Skip to content
GitHub Copilot is now available for free. Learn more
GitHub Codespaces

Secure development made simple

GitHub Codespaces gets you up and coding faster with fully configured, secure cloud development environments native to GitHub.

Get startedContact sales
Screenshot of GitHub Codespaces, showing a split-screen interface. On the left side, there's an HTML file (index.html) being edited, with code defining a webpage structure, including an image, a navigation button, and a section for a headline and paragraph text. Below the code editor, there's a terminal window displaying tasks being started and completed, such as watch-extension: vscode-api-tests. On the right side of the screen, the rendered webpage is displayed, featuring a bold headline 'Mona Sans. A Variable Font' with a subheading describing the typeface. Below the text is an illustration of the GitHub mascot, Mona the Octocat, standing on a floating platform.

Secure by design

Created with security in mind, Codespaces provides a secure development environment through its built-in capabilities and native integration with the GitHub platform.

Graphic featuring three key security features of GitHub Codespaces. Each feature is listed in a black rectangle with a green checkmark icon to the up. The features include 'Isolated Environments,' 'Access Control,' and 'Cost Control.' The background transitions from green at the top to teal at the bottom

Collaborate where you code

Codespaces provides a shared development environment and removes the need for complex setups.

Screenshot showing a snippet of a JSON configuration file used in GitHub Codespaces. The file defines settings for a development environment, including specifying an image with the key 'image' set to ghcr.io/github/github/dev_image:latest. It also includes configurations like 'forwardPorts' for automatically forwarding specific ports (such as 80, 2222, 3003, and others), a terminal setting with the key 'terminal.integrated.shell.linux' set to /bin/bash, and a 'postCreateCommand' to run npm install after setup. The background features a gradient from green to teal.
Screenshot of a GitHub Codespaces environment titled 'codespaces-demo.' The interface shows a file explorer on the left side with various files and folders, including .devcontainer, build.css, and setup-devcontainer.sh. The main editor displays the content of the build.css file, with CSS code specifying styles for elements like .main and .container > header. On the right side, a panel allows the user to select a machine configuration, with options for 8-core, 16-core, and 32-core setups, indicating different levels of RAM and storage. The background features a gradient from teal to green.

Your space, your way. Codespaces is a home away from home for your code that feels just like your usual machine.Logos for popular development tools and extensions, including ES Lint, IntelliCode, Prettier, Live Server, Copilot, Docker, GitLens, and Debugger for Java.

  • Start coding instantly from anywhere in the world. Switching projects? Grab a new machine from the cloud that’s preconfigured for that project. Your settings travel with you.
  • Tabs or spaces? Monokai or Solarized? Prettier or Beautify? It’s up to you. Control every nerdy detail only you care about with your own dotfiles repository.

Browser preview and port forwarding

Preview your changes and get feedback from teammates by sharing ports within the scope allowed by policy.

Screenshot of a GitHub Codespaces environment showing a browser window with the text 'hello, world!1!!' displayed. Below the browser, there is a 'Ports' panel listing several active ports, including 'web (3000),' 'hmr (55306),' 'mysql (3306),' and 'api (3001).' A context menu is open with options like 'Open in Browser,' 'Set Port Label,' 'Copy Local Address,' and 'Make Public,' with the cursor hovering over the 'Make Public' option. The background features a gradient from blue to green.

Onboard faster

Quickly spin up a codespace with only an IDE or browser and a GitHub account. With a few configuration files, you can give your developers an instant, fully configured, and secure development environment so they can start coding immediately.

Screenshot showing a list of three active GitHub Codespaces environments.The first environment is titled 'mn-webgl-sandbox' under the branch 'webgl-changes,' and shows zero down arrows and six up arrows indicating changes. The second environment is titled 'ui refactoring' under the branch 'layout-refactor,' showing four down arrows and two up arrows. The third environment is titled 'psychic space doodle' under the branch 'node-extensions,' with one down arrow and five up arrows. Each environment is marked as 'Active' with a green dot and a small avatar representing the user associated with the environment. The background features a gradient from teal to green.

What you can do with Codespaces

Learn how GitHub builds with Codespaces

Code from any device

Want to code on an iPad? Go for it. Spin up Codespaces from any device with internet access. Don’t worry if your device is powerful enough—Codespaces lives in the cloud.

Onboard at the speed of thought

No more building your dev environment while you onboard. Codespaces launches instantly from any repository on GitHub with pre-configured, secure environments.

Streamline contractor onboarding

Codespaces gives you control over how your consultants access your resources, while providing them with instant onboarding and a fluid developer experience.

Fix bugs right from a pull request

Got a pull request detailing a bug or security issue? Open Codespaces right from the pull request without waiting for your dev environment to load.

What developers are saying

Circular avatar from Clint Chester's GitHub profile
Clint ChesterDeveloper Lead, Synergy
Circular avatar from Keith Annette's GitHub profile
Keith AnnetteCloud Capability Lead, KPMG, UK

Start coding in seconds with Codespaces

Go to any repository and open your own Codespaces environment instantly.

Get startedContact Sales

Frequently asked questions

How does Codespaces work?

A codespace is a development environment that’s hosted in the cloud. Customize your project for GitHub Codespaces by configuring dev container files to your repository (often known as configuration-as-code), which creates a repeatable codespace configuration for all users of your project.

GitHub Codespaces run on a various VM-based compute options hosted by GitHub.com, which you can configure from 2 core machines up to 32 core machines. Connect to your codespaces from the browser or locally using an IDE like Visual Studio Code or IntelliJ.

How do I use Codespaces?

There are a number of entry points to spin up a Codespaces environment, including:

Learn more about how to use Codespaces in our documentation.

Is Codespaces available for individual developers?

Codespaces is available for developers in every organization, and under the control of the organization who pays for the user’s codespace. All personal (individual) GitHub.com accounts include a quota of free usage each month, which organizations can enable (see the next question) for their private and internal repositories. GitHub will provide users in the free plan 120 core hours or 60 hours of run time on a 2 core codespace, plus 15 GB of storage each month. See how it’s balanced on the billing page.

Is Codespaces available for teams and companies?

Codespaces is available for teams and companies, but needs to be enabled first in an organization’s settings. Teams and companies can select which repositories and users have access to Codespaces for added security and permissioning control. Learn how to enable Codespaces in an organization in our docs.

How much does Codespaces cost?

Codespaces is free for individual use up to 60 hours a month and comes with simple, pay-as-you-go pricing after that. It’s also available for organizations with pay-as-you-go pricing and has pricing controls so any company or team can determine how much they want to spend a month. Learn more about Codespaces pricing for organizations here.

Can I self-host Codespaces?

Codespaces cannot be self-hosted.

How do I access Codespaces with LinkedIn Learning?

You can use Codespaces directly through LinkedIn Learning. LinkedIn Learning offers 50+ courses across six of the most popular coding languages, as well as data science and machine learning. These courses are integrated with Codespaces, so you can get hands-on practice anytime, from any machine via LinkedIn. These courses will be unlocked on LinkedIn Learning for free through Feb. 2023. Learn more about LinkedIn Learning and GitHub Codespaces here.

How do I enable Codespaces on GitHub?

Codespaces is on by default for developers with a GitHub free account. If you belong to an organization, there may be a policy that prevents cloning—but if you can clone a repository, you will be able to start using Codespaces. Organizations will also need to pay for, enable, and manage their Codespaces instances.

Is Codespaces available for students?

Codespaces is available for free to students as part of the GitHub Student Developer Pack. Learn more about how to sign up and start using Codespaces and other GitHub products here.

Is Codespaces available for open source maintainers?

Codespaces provides both maintainers and contributors with generous free monthly usage.