GitHub Web Editor: FREE VSCode in the browser
Tags: vscode, github, codenewbie, codespaces
Published: 2021-08-23 01:41:26

A lightweight code editor, based on VSCode, that can be accessed via Browser, and it's __completely free__. Sounds too good to be true? Well this time it's not.

### Intro

As promised in the [article](https://dev.to/github/github-codespaces-ga-any-good-reviewed-and-tested-3e62) / [video](https://youtu.be/Car0QZ_YbxQ) about Codespaces that I've released last week (_check it out if you haven't yet_), today we talk about an awesome new feature that has been released by GitHub together with Codespaces.

I'm talking about the new __Web Editor experience__ accessible directly from your repos. Best part? It's __completely free__ for everyone!

### Video

As usual, if you are a __visual learner__, or simply prefer to watch and listen instead of reading, here you have __the video with the whole explanation and demo__, which to be fair is much ___more complete___ than this post.

{% youtube UDbdChCXIKw %}

[Link to the video: https://youtu.be/UDbdChCXIKw](https://youtu.be/UDbdChCXIKw)

If you rather prefer reading, well... let's just continue :)

### What is it?

The new Web Editor is a __lightweight code editor__, based on __VSCode__. It is similar to Codespaces, but it is not backed by any compute backing; it is in fact __entirely powered by your browser__.

This means it has __some limitations__ over Codespaces, and we will see it in a moment, but on the flipside it's very fast to load and quickly navigate. It is __perfect for making small changes__ to your code without the need of having an IDE on your laptop.

### How to Access it

There are currently 2 ways to access the new Web Editor: 

- __Directly via URL__ -  just change `github.com` to `github.dev` in your browser when in the repo you want to work on 
- __By Keyboard__ - pressing the full stop `.` keyboard button while in the repo

### How it works

Alright, it's time to see this in actions. Images are 1,000 times better than words, so check it out here:

{% youtube UDbdChCXIKw %}

> Demo starts at [minute 1:50](https://youtu.be/UDbdChCXIKw?t=110)

### Conclusions

__Comment down below__ with what you think of this new Web Editor. It's still in beta, so probably __some features will be added__, but I think it's really cool!

I will soon have another article/video in which I will do a bit by bit comparison between Codespaces and this Web Editor, so consider following me or subscribing if you don't wanna miss it.

Also, checkout [this video](https://youtu.be/Car0QZ_YbxQ), where I talk about the new Codespaces features now that it's GA.

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{% youtube UDbdChCXIKw %}