The IDE in Gitpod is based on the open-source project Theia. It is hosted and developed under the umbrella of the Eclipse Foundation, which ensures vendor neutrality and emphasizes diversity.

Overview

When you open Theia for the first time, a welcome screen is shown to quickly get you started. After closing it you will see the workbench shell. Depending on the context URL, different views might be opened.

Let us have a look at the primary elements of the workbench shell.

Views and Editors

A Theia workbench shell consists of any number of opened views and editors. Views and editors can be freely arranged by dragging and dropping them around.

Main Area and Panels

Within the main area, the drag-and-drop functionality allows for splitting freely as you will. Also widgets can be moved to the side or bottom panels.

Main Area and Panels

Theia vs VSCode

While Theia may look a lot like VSCode, it isn’t VSCode, rather a different IDE following the same design scheme.

Still Have Questions?

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