Coder

A self-hosted platform for cloud development workspaces defined in Terraform, plus AI coding agents that run on your own infrastructure.

17.3k stars, 1.6k forks Go On GitHub since December 2021

Visit website View on GitHub How to run it

What is Coder?

Coder gives each developer a remote workspace, such as an EC2 VM, a Kubernetes pod or a Docker container, described by a Terraform template. Developers reach it from their IDE through a WireGuard tunnel, and idle workspaces shut down automatically to save cost. Coder Agents runs AI coding agents in the control plane, with any model provider, no LLM keys inside workspaces, and audit logging and cost tracking per user. A single binary starts the server with a built-in database for trials.

Good fit if

  • You onboard many developers and want identical, disposable environments instead of local setups.
  • You want AI coding agents under central governance on your own cloud.

Look elsewhere if

  • You only need VS Code in a browser on one machine: code-server.

Before you adopt it

The core is AGPL-3.0, but the enterprise/ directory is under a separate commercial license and unlocks Premium features. Contributors sign a CLA. Development is fast and spread across a large team. Production deployments need PostgreSQL 13 or later and an external access URL; a Helm chart and Docker Compose file are included.

Drafted with AI from the project's README and repository data, then checked against that data on 31 October 2026. Report a correction

Coder health: is it still maintained?

81 of 100, actively developed

  • Activity
    1,953 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 4 November 2026.
    30 / 30
  • Contributors
    21 people wrote the latest 100 commits; the most active wrote 16% of them.
    18 / 20
  • Releases
    15 releases in the last 12 months; the latest, v2.38.6, on 3 November 2026.
    19 / 20
  • Replies to issues
    Maintainers answered 23% of recent issues, with a median first reply after 7 days.
    5 / 20
  • Security practices
    OpenSSF Scorecard 8.6 of 10.
    9 / 10

Read from GitHub on 4 November 2026. How the score works

Coder license: is it open source?

Coder uses AGPL-3.0, an open-source license approved by the OSI. Some features sit under a separate paid license inside the same repository. Contributors sign a contributor license agreement, which lets the owner relicense their work later.

  1. December 2021First published on GitHub.
  2. TodayAGPL-3.0, with paid parts: directory enterprise/; separate license LICENSE.enterprise. A contributor license agreement is required.

How to run Coder yourself

Docker
Dockerfile or compose file in the repository
Compose file
compose.yaml: 2 services (postgres)
Setup effort
2 of 5, judged from the compose file
Kubernetes
Helm chart in the repository
Desktop and mobile
Builds for macOS, Linux, Android, Windows, including ARM in GitHub releases
Interface languages
English only

Install instructions: coder.com or the README on GitHub.

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  • code-serverVS Code in the browser 85 health · MIT · 79.8k stars
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Questions about Coder

Is Coder open source?

Yes. Coder is published under AGPL-3.0, an OSI-approved open-source license. Some features are kept under a separate paid license in the same repository.

Is Coder still maintained?

Its health score is 81 of 100 (actively developed). It had 1,953 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 4 November 2026, and its latest release came out on 3 November 2026.

How do I run Coder?

You can run it with Docker, on Kubernetes with the Helm chart in the repository, as an app for macOS, Linux, Android, Windows, including ARM. The README on GitHub has the exact steps.

What are the alternatives to Coder?

Close alternatives in the Developer tools category include code-server, Novu, Gotify.