Key concepts
Instances
A dedicated Coder deployment with its own database, namespace, TLS certificate, and domain at
your-name.codespace.sh.Workspaces
Development environments inside your instance, created from templates. Each workspace is an isolated container with your tools and code.
Teams
Invite team members to your instance. Owners manage settings and billing; members create and use workspaces.
How it works
- Sign up with an invite code and create your account
- Create an instance — pick a subdomain and Codespace provisions everything automatically
- Open Coder — your instance is live at
your-name.codespace.shwith admin credentials ready - Create workspaces — use templates to spin up dev environments in seconds
- Invite your team — share the instance with collaborators
How is this different from self-hosting Coder?
| Codespace | Self-hosted Coder | |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | Create an instance in 2 minutes | Configure Kubernetes, Helm, PostgreSQL, TLS, DNS |
| Maintenance | Automatic upgrades, monitoring, backups | You manage everything |
| Infrastructure | Dedicated namespace and database per instance | You provision and manage your own cluster |
| Team management | Built-in invitations and roles | Configure your own identity provider |
| Billing | Usage-based plans with included resources | License cost + your infrastructure costs |