Working with support for GitHub Codespaces

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Tips on getting the best help from support for GitHub Codespaces.

Before support can help you with problems with codespaces, you need to know the permanent name of the codespace and its codespaces ID (identifier). In addition, support may ask you to share some logs with them. For more information, see "GitHub Codespaces logs" and "About GitHub Support."

Codespace names

Each codespace has a unique name that is a combination of your GitHub handle, two or three automatically generated words, and some random characters. For example: octocat-literate-space-parakeet-mld5. The two or three automatically generated words also form the initial display name of your codespace, in this case, literate-space-parakeet. You can change the display name for a codespace, but this will not affect the permanent name. For more information, see "Renaming a codespace."

To find the name of a codespace:

  • Open the codespace in the browser. The subdomain of the URL is the name of the codespace. For example: https://octocat-literate-space-parakeet-mld5.github.dev is the URL for the octocat-literate-space-parakeet-mld5 codespace.

  • If you cannot open a codespace, you can access the name in GitHub Enterprise Cloud on https://github.com/codespaces. The name is shown in a pop-up when you hover over the display name of a codespace on https://github.com/codespaces.

    Screenshot of the mouse pointer positioned over a display name and the related codespace name shown at the bottom of the browser page.

The name the codespace is also included in many of the log files. For example, in the codespace logs as the value of friendlyName, in the GitHub Codespaces extension log after making GET request for, and in the browser console log after clientUrl. For more information, see "GitHub Codespaces logs."

Codespaces IDs

Every codespace also has an ID (identifier). This is not shown by default in Visual Studio Code so you may need to update the settings for the GitHub Codespaces extension before you can access the ID.

  1. In Visual Studio Code, browser or desktop, in the Activity Bar on the left, click Remote Explorer to show details for the codespace.

    Note: If the Remote Explorer is not displayed in the Activity Bar:

    1. Access the Command Palette. For example, by pressing Shift+Command+P (Mac) / Ctrl+Shift+P (Windows/Linux).
    2. Type: details.
    3. Click Codespaces: Details.

  2. If the side bar includes a "Codespace Performance" section, hover over the "Codespace ID" and click the clipboard icon to copy the ID.

  3. If the information is not shown, click , in the bottom-left corner of the Activity Bar, to display the "Settings" tab.

  4. Expand Extensions and click GitHub Codespaces to display the settings for the extension. Then enable Show Performance Explorer to display the "Codespace Performance" section in the side bar.

    Screenshot of "Show Performance Explorer" selected in VS Code's "Settings" tab and a codespace ID highlighted in the "Remote Explorer" side bar.