Docker Support in Codesandbox | Hacker News Reader

Docker Support in Codesandbox

codesandbox.io

52 pointsplondon51410 comments

Github Spaces, Gitpod, Codeserver (Coder), AWS Cloud9 (and AWS CodeCatalyst)... many bet on a workspace in the cloud. Wonder who will get the most attraction.

So far my best UX was with Codesandbox for UI (react), Gitpod for a general (=Docker) single repo, and Codeserver on a VM for multi repo setup.

That's great to hear! We're now working a lot on making CodeSandbox a great experience for development, and we're now at the point that we're doing all our development of CodeSandbox on CodeSandbox as well. It's a quite opinionated experience, because every branch will have a URL that you can share, but it works really well when working together with a team. More info on that is here: https://projects.codesandbox.io/

> It's a quite opinionated experience, because every branch will have a URL that you can share

Can you clarify what you mean by this? What does it being opinionated have to do with there being a URL you can share?

Yes, I should've clarified that the opinionated part is mainly in the workflow.

When you open a repo on CodeSandbox, you automatically open the main branch (e.g. https://codesandbox.io/p/github/codesandbox/test-sandbox/mai..., which is the main branch of our test repo). To contribute to this branch, you can click "Branch" in the editor, and we'll automatically create a new branch, and redirect you to the URL of this branch.

They key here is that you can share this branch (with anyone who has access to the repo). If someone else opens this same branch in CodeSandbox, they will join the same workspace as yours and see your cursor. This allows you to share in-progress work with your team more easily, because you're sharing a link to a branch. When someone else opens that link, they will see a running environment instead of static code, even if you're not online.

So you could essentially say that dev environments on CodeSandbox are multi-user, which is a key difference compared to other cloud environments. With other cloud solutions, the link is tied to your personal environment (so the link is only valid as long as you are online). With CodeSandbox, the link is tied to a branch, which can be shared and opened any time by multiple users.

Got it, very cool. Thanks for clarifying.

A totally separate question if, I may: Does the editor support using keymappings from other apps? In VS Code, for example, I can use (it may have been through a plugin) JetBrains (IntelliJ/PyCharm) keymappings which is really helpful because I could essentially feel like a pro in VS Code immediately, despite not having used it before. Can I do something like in Codesandbox?

The online editor doesn't support rebinding yet, however, we have an integration with VSCode which allows you to open any branch/sandbox inside your local VSCode, with your own extensions and keybindings. That's how I've been doing most of my development with CodeSandbox!

Just seeing this. Thanks for the reply!

Back in the glory commercial UNIX days, there was a devserver by department, which we either logged into via telnet or X Windows, then we moved into Citrix and RDP based workloads, now the browser as remote display protocol.

Everything old is new again.

As a long time user, it’s been a pleasure following CodeSandbox’s progress recently. It works really well on an iPad, making it a great learning tool.

I can’t wait for them to get this working fully offline. Congrats to Ives and the team on the Docker support!

That's so great to hear, thank you!

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