What you can do in a Cloud Development Environment

Che Cloud Development Environments provide a complete, pre-configured development setup defined by a devfile in your Git repository. You can mount credentials, run containers, persist data, and collaborate with your team.

How devfiles define your environment

A devfile.yaml in your Git repository specifies container images, commands, endpoints, and volume mounts for your Cloud Development Environment. Devfile components map to containers in the workspace pod. When no devfile is present, Che uses the Universal Developer Image (UDI) with common language runtimes and tools pre-installed.

How credentials are injected

Kubernetes Secrets and ConfigMaps with specific labels are automatically mounted into all workspace containers by the DevWorkspace Controller. Git credentials, SSH keys, Maven settings, and API keys are injected without manual setup per Cloud Development Environment.

How storage works

Cloud Development Environment data is ephemeral by default and lost when the workspace stops. To persist data across restarts, request a PersistentVolume through a volume component in the devfile or apply a PersistentVolumeClaim (PVC) directly. Backup snapshots can restore uncommitted changes after a workspace is deleted.

Your development workflow

A typical development session follows this cycle: start a Cloud Development Environment from a Git URL, write and test code, commit changes, and stop the workspace. Data in /projects persists across restarts when using per-user storage. When you delete a workspace, backup snapshots preserve uncommitted work.

Table 1. What do you need to do?
Goal	Description
Manage credentials and configurations	Mount Secrets, ConfigMaps, SSH keys, and Git configuration so that tools authenticate automatically.
Use fuse-overlayfs for containers	Use fuse-overlayfs for Podman and Buildah, or kubedock for lightweight container execution.
Collaborate with your team	Add factory badges for contributors, review pull requests in cloud workspaces, and integrate with GitHub Actions.
Persist and restore workspace data	Request persistent storage in devfiles or PVCs, and restore Cloud Development Environments from backup snapshots.
Prevent workspace idling	Keep long-running commands active so that unattended tasks complete without interruption.
Customize workspace creation with URL parameters	Customize Cloud Development Environment creation by appending parameters to the workspace start URL.