Skip to content

Epic: Remove need to commit to git (Gitpod "Inner Loop") #7671

Closed
@mickmister

Description

@mickmister

Improve the speed that users can iterate on their configuration, particularly their .gitpod.yml in a way that doesn't require them to leave gitpod and/or start other workspaces. Doc or research progress.

There are some main configuration areas to improve on:

  1. gitpod.yml - inclusive of the task commands
  2. Image: Dockerfile updates / prebuilds
  3. IDE integrations
  4. Dotfiles iterations
  5. Logs for feedback

Also useful to think on different dimensions:

  1. Does it lint?
  2. Does it build?
  3. Does it run? (integrate)

In scope

Nice to have

Out of scope - Improve outer loop

Closes

Related issues:

Original issue description

Context

When I'm building a workspace, I oftentimes want to iterate on the .gitpod.yml file and test its behavior. My workflow is:

  • make a change to .gitpod.yml
  • commit and push change
  • open gitpod through the commit's/branch's GitHub url
  • now I have a workspace created from my edited .gitpod.yml file

Problem with this approach

Two things that are inconvenient about my current workflow:

  • I'm going to github as part of the workflow. I'd rather stay in gitpod while I'm iterating
  • I end up with an extra workspace that I need to delete

Possible Solution

Add a command to the gp CLI, which takes the current .gitpod.yml (and dockerfile) and starts a fresh workspace with an explicit prebuild stage (so it runs through the automation). The CLI would output the build logs (docker build, prebuild, tasks) to standard out and at the end (ready state) print a link so one can optionally go and open the IDE.
The workspace stops when I terminate the process.

We can then have IDE commands to run this. I think a code lens in the .gitpod.yml would be even better. Also, a notification when the config has changed could be useful for users to discover this.

Metadata

Metadata

Type

No type

Projects

Status

Done

Milestone

No milestone

Relationships

None yet

Development

No branches or pull requests

Issue actions