Credit: Dreamstime
Development environment technology provider Gitpod has open sourced its self-named cloud-based IDE platform for automatically spinning up ready-to-code development environments.
The open-sourcing will allow the Gitpod community to participate in the technology’s development and make it easier for developers to integrate Gitpod into their workflows, the company said.
A Kubernetes application, Gitpod allows developers to maintain development environments as code, turning manual steps into a machine-executable part of a project’s source code. The platform monitors changes in the repository, and preps development environments for every change.
This preparation includes:
- Setting up tools
- Checking out the correct Git branch
- Compiling code
- Downloading dependencies
- Initialising whatever is needed
Developer workflows are streamlined, with teams able to build applications quicker, the company said. Coding can begin from a branch, issue, or merge or pull request, applying CI/CD concepts to development environments. Gitpod works with code-hosting platforms including GitLab, GitHub Enterprise, and Bitbucket.
Benefits of Gitpod cited by the company include:
- Shorter lead times, with reductions in time it takes to switch contexts and maintain development environments
- Elimination of “configuration drift,” with the GitOps approach embraced through versioning of configuration in the Git repository. This ensures consistent, reproducible development environments
- Enabling remote collaboration, with developers able to work on code reviews, mentoring, and sharing snapshots of work
Gitpod is available under an Affero GPL license on GitHub. The technology was architected by Sven Efftinge, who co-created the Eclipse Theia IDE development platform.
