IDEs in Cloud Development Environments

Che supports multiple Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) that can be used in workspaces. The default IDE is Microsoft Visual Studio Code - Open Source.

Supported IDEs

The default IDE in a new workspace is Microsoft Visual Studio Code - Open Source. Alternatively, you can choose another supported IDE:

Table 1. Supported IDEs
IDE Status id Note

Microsoft Visual Studio Code - Open Source

Available

  • che-incubator/che-code/latest

  • che-incubator/che-code/insiders

  • latest is the default IDE that loads in a new workspace when the URL parameter or che-editor.yaml is not used.

  • insiders is the development version.

JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate Edition (over JetBrains Gateway)

Available

  • che-incubator/che-idea-server/latest

  • che-incubator/che-idea-server/next

  • latest is the stable version.

  • next is the development version.

Which IDE should I choose?

Use Microsoft Visual Studio Code - Open Source if you want a browser-based experience with no local installation. Use JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA if your team already uses JetBrains IDEs and you prefer a desktop client connected to the remote workspace over SSH. Visual Studio Code - Open Source is the default and requires no additional setup. JetBrains requires installing JetBrains Gateway or JetBrains Toolbox on your local machine.

Repository-level IDE configuration in Che

You can store IDE configuration files directly in the remote Git repository that contains your project source code. This way, one common IDE configuration is applied to all new workspaces that feature a clone of that repository. Such IDE configuration files might include the following: