create-devpod.md

Create and Use a DevPod

A DevPod allows you to develop in a K8s pod running in the same cluster where Jenkins X is running. DevPods allow you to build and test your Jenkins X application before you are ready to create a Pull Request - all without installing any developer tools on your computer.

DevPods provide a terminal/shell that is based on the exact same operating system, docker containers and tools that are installed in the pod templates used in the Jenkins X CI/CD pipelines. This allows you to build, run tests or redeploy apps using the exact same tools as the CI/CD pipelines provided by Jenkins X build-packs and before you commit to your upstream Git repository.

Before creating a DevPod you want to be in the source code repository for which you want to make changes - the one create with the quickstart from the last exercise:

cd ~/cloudbees_days/jx-go

To create your own DevPod use the command jx create devpod. Run command to get a list of all available DevPods. Once you have reviewed the list cancel with ctrl+c.

jx create devpod

For the workshop we want to create a simple http Golang project with the following command where the -l go specifies the programming language to supporet - but make sure you are in your quickstart repository directory that you created in the previous exercise:

jx create devpod -l go --username='[your GitHub username]'

This will then create a new DevPod based on the go based pod template and open your terminal inside that pod. You are now free to use the various pre-installed tools like git, docker, go, skaffold, jx which will all be using the same exact configuration as the automated Jenkins X CI/CD pipelines.

Now you are ready to move on to the Using the Theia IDE.