The workspace editor
Every DevPlace workspace opens a full editor in your browser. It is branded DevPlace,
it starts a coding agent for you, and it is configured from your DevPlace account
rather than from inside the editor.
Open one from a project's Workspace page, or with the Editor button on the
project itself once the workspace is running.
What opens on boot#
When your workspace starts, two terminals open at the bottom of the window:
- DevPlace Code runs
dpc, the coding agent
that ships in every workspace. It has focus, so you can type a request straight
away. Every token it spends is metered against your own DevPlace account. - pravda@workspace is an ordinary login shell, so the Python, Rust, Nim and Swift
toolchains are all on yourPATH.
New terminals you open later are plain shells. To start another agent, pick
DevPlace Code from the terminal dropdown, or run the command
DevPlace: Start DevPlace Code.
The workspace opens straight onto your files with the terminal ready, not onto a welcome
page, and the editor's own built-in chat assistant is switched off: dpc is the assistant
here, and it runs on your DevPlace account. The files dpc keeps for itself (.dpc/ and
dpc.log) stay in the container and are never copied into your project.
You can turn either of them off. See Your preferences below.
Every workspace is trusted#
VS Code normally opens an unfamiliar folder in Restricted Mode, which disables
tasks, debugging and most extensions until you click to trust it. DevPlace turns
that off: your workspace is yours, so it is trusted from the first second and
nothing prompts you.
This has a real consequence, and you should know it. Automatic tasks are enabled
too, so if a project you open contains a .vscode/tasks.json with a
"runOn": "folderOpen" task, that task runs when the folder opens. If you are about
to open code you did not write and do not trust, read that file first.
An administrator can restore Restricted Mode for the whole site from the workspace
service settings.
Size#
Four separate things have a size, and they are set in two different places.
| What | Set by | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Editor font size, terminal font size, zoom | You | Your workspace page |
| Editor layout and terminal panel size | You | Your workspace page |
| How the editor opens (tab or sized window) | You | Your workspace page |
| CPU, memory and disk | An administrator | Your workspace quota |
Your own preferences follow you into every workspace you open. The container size is
part of your quota and is shown on the same page so you always know what you have.
Your preferences#
The Editor card on your workspace page holds them all:
- Theme - DevPlace Dark, DevPlace Light, or leave it to you (pick any theme from
inside the editor and DevPlace will not touch it again). - Layout - Standard, Terminal focus, or Zen.
- Terminal panel - Short, Normal, Tall or Maximized.
- Editor font size, Terminal font size, Zoom level.
- Agent on boot and Shell on boot.
- Open editor in - a new tab, a sized window, or a fullscreen window, with the
width and height for the sized case.
Every field has a Site default option. Choosing it removes your preference and
lets the administrator's value apply again, including any future change to it.
Reset to site defaults does that for all of them at once.
Over the API and through Devii the same rule applies field by field: only the fields
you send are changed, and a field you send as empty or zero goes back to inheriting.
They apply on the next start#
Editor settings are read when the workspace container boots. After you save, the page
tells you if a restart is needed and gives you the buttons to do it.
DevPlace never overwrites a setting you changed yourself#
If you change something inside the editor, that value is yours from then on. DevPlace
only writes a setting it wrote itself last time, so a change to the site default
reaches everyone who has not expressed an opinion and no one who has.
Doing it from Devii#
Devii can read and change these for you:
- "what is my workspace editor set to" runs
workspace_editor_get. - "make my workspace editor font 18 and use the light theme" runs
workspace_editor_set. It will show you the exact values and ask before saving.
Commands inside the editor#
Press F1 and type DevPlace for the full list:
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
| DevPlace: Start DevPlace Code | Opens another dpc terminal |
| DevPlace: Open project on DevPlace | Your project page |
| DevPlace: Open workspace settings | Your workspace page |
| DevPlace: Show public tunnels | Pick one of your live public addresses |
| DevPlace: Open the DevPlace editor guide | This page |
Related#
- Get started with vibing - the container
runtime, the agents, and publishing what you build. - The Dev Workspaces API group for the same settings over HTTP.