docs/content/codespaces/overview.md

title, shortTitle, product, intro, allowTitleToDifferFromFilename, redirect_from, versions, type, topics

title	shortTitle	product	intro	allowTitleToDifferFromFilename	redirect_from	versions	type	topics
GitHub Codespaces overview	Overview	{% data reusables.gated-features.codespaces %}	This guide introduces {% data variables.product.prodname_codespaces %} and provides details on how it works and how to use it.	true	/codespaces/codespaces-reference/about-codespaces /github/developing-online-with-github-codespaces/about-github-codespaces /github/developing-online-with-codespaces/about-codespaces /codespaces/getting-started-with-codespaces/about-codespaces /codespaces/about-codespaces	fpt ghec * *	overview	Codespaces

What is a codespace?

A codespace is a development environment that's hosted in the cloud. You can customize your project for {% data variables.product.prodname_codespaces %} by committing configuration files to your repository (often known as Configuration-as-Code), which creates a repeatable codespace configuration for all users of your project.

{% data variables.product.prodname_codespaces %} run on a variety of VM-based compute options hosted by {% data variables.product.product_location %}, which you can configure from 2 core machines up to 32 core machines. You can connect to your codespaces from the browser or locally using {% data variables.product.prodname_vscode %}.

Using Codespaces

You can create a codespace from any branch or commit in your repository and begin developing using cloud-based compute resources. {% data reusables.codespaces.links-to-get-started %}

To customize the runtimes and tools in your codespace, you can create a custom configuration to define an environment (or dev container) that is specific for your repository. Using a dev container allows you to specify a Docker environment for development with a well-defined tool and runtime stack that can reference an image, Dockerfile, or docker-compose. This means that anyone using the repository will have the same tools available to them when they create a codespace.

If you don't do any custom configuration, {% data variables.product.prodname_codespaces %} will clone your repository into an environment with the default codespace image that includes many tools, languages, and runtime environments. For more information, see "Introduction to dev containers".

You can also personalize aspects of your codespace environment by using a public dotfiles repository and Settings Sync. Personalization can include shell preferences, additional tools, editor settings, and VS Code extensions. For more information, see "Customizing your codespace".

About billing for {% data variables.product.prodname_codespaces %}

For information on pricing, storage, and usage for {% data variables.product.prodname_codespaces %}, see "Managing billing for {% data variables.product.prodname_codespaces %}."

{% data reusables.codespaces.codespaces-spending-limit-requirement %} For information on how organizations owners and billing managers can manage the spending limit for {% data variables.product.prodname_codespaces %} for an organization, see "Managing your spending limit for {% data variables.product.prodname_codespaces %}."