# loft-sh/devpod

Codespaces but open-source, client-only and unopinionated: Works with any IDE and lets you use any cloud, kubernetes or just localhost docker.

Repository: https://github.com/loft-sh/devpod
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/devpod
Homepage: https://devpod.sh
Language: Go
License: MPL-2.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: cloud, devcontainer, devcontainers, developer-tools, development, docker, ide, kubernetes, remote-development, remote-development-environment, vscode
Last push: 2025-11-14T06:33:38+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 56/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 52, release rhythm 40, longevity 94
- inputs: {"age_days": 1317, "days_push": 292, "days_rel": 541, "gap_med": 8.0, "n_releases_24m": 19}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 15092, forks 578 (observed 2026-08-28T04:11:09.140295+00:00)

## What it is
DevPod is an open-source, client-only tool for creating reproducible developer environments defined by devcontainer.json, runnable locally, on remote machines, Kubernetes, or any cloud. It ships as both a desktop app and a CLI and connects to any IDE, including VS Code and JetBrains, via SSH.

## Use cases
- spin up reproducible dev environments from devcontainer.json
- run a self-hosted alternative to GitHub Codespaces
- develop remotely on a cloud VM or Kubernetes cluster from my local IDE
- onboard new team members with instant dev environments
- switch dev workspaces between local and cloud backends
- save costs on cloud dev environments by auto-stopping unused VMs
- use any IDE with containerized development

## When to choose
- you want Codespaces-like environments without vendor lock-in or server-side setup
- you need to run dev containers across local, remote, Kubernetes, or any cloud provider
- you want IDE-agnostic remote development with VS Code or JetBrains support
- cost matters and you want automatic shutdown of unused cloud VMs

## When to avoid
- you want a fully managed hosted service with zero infrastructure responsibility
- your team is already standardized on GitHub Codespaces or JetBrains Spaces
- you don't use containers or devcontainer.json in your workflow

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: developer-tools, container-runtime, cli, deployment, configuration-management, ssh
- domain: developer-tools, cloud-computing, cross-platform
- platform: windows, cli, go
- tags: devcontainer, dev-environments-as-code, remote-development, codespaces-alternative, ide-agnostic, desktop-app, devops, containers, macos, linux, docker, kubernetes, desktop

## Member repositories
- loft-sh/devpod (main) score 56

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:09.140295+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:06:44.372179+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/loft-sh/devpod (fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:09.140295+00:00, sha 0a33f2b974c6)
  - homepage: https://devpod.sh (fetched 2026-08-29T08:04:38.337793+00:00, sha 6213348faeae)
  - site_page: https://devpod.sh/docs/what-is-devpod (fetched 2026-08-29T08:04:38.347016+00:00, sha a4fde01809a0)
  - site_page: https://devpod.sh/docs/getting-started/install (fetched 2026-08-29T08:04:38.349221+00:00, sha c0c3a79e1779)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.