Opening Your First Codespace
This process is like walking into the library and turning on a computer. Start from your forked repository, then create a fresh, temporary environment in the cloud.
Steps
Click the green Code button
- This button is usually for downloading files, but we are using it to launch a computer.
Code button Click the Codespaces tab
- Crucial Choice: You will see two tabs: “Local” and “Codespaces.”
- Local: Means downloading to your own messy laptop (Hard mode).
- Codespaces: Means using the pre-installed cloud computer (Easy mode). Always choose this.
Codespaces tab Click Create Codespace on main
- This tells GitHub to build a new computer for you from scratch.
Create Codespace
The “Boot Up” Phase
Wait about 5 minutes the first time.
- What is happening? GitHub is downloading a computer that already has R, Python, Quarto, and all the course libraries installed. Nothing is installed while you wait.
- The Analogy: Think of this as the “ventilation system” starting up in a lab. It takes a moment to get the environment ready.
While it starts, the bottom-left corner says Opening Remote….
Trust the Folder
When VS Code appears in your browser window, a box asks: Do you trust the authors of the files in this folder? These are the course files, so click Trust Folder & Continue.
If you clicked Cancel or closed the box, VS Code stays in Restricted Mode: a grey banner sits at the top and the course tools stay switched off.
To fix it, click Manage in that banner, then click Trust.
Is It Ready?
VS Code keeps loading its tools for a few seconds after it appears. Watch the bottom bar:
Not ready yet: a spinning message, such as Activating Extensions… or Refreshing … environments.
Still loading: a spinning message in the bottom bar Ready: the spinning message is gone and Quarto shows a version number.
Ready: Quarto and its version in the bottom bar
Success: Your Codespace is ready. When you open a .qmd file later, a Run Cell link appears above each R code chunk.
If the bottom bar still has not shown Quarto after a couple of minutes:
- Open the Command Palette (
F1) and run Codespaces: View Creation Log. Send the log to the instructor. - Do not try to install software yourself. Rebuild the environment instead — see Troubleshooting: Rebuild Container — and ask for help if it still fails.
