Theia Cloud 1.0: Simplifying Deployment and Management of Theia-Based Tools in Kubernetes

We are excited to announce the release of Theia Cloud 1.0, a major milestone for running Theia-based tools and IDEs in cloud environments. This open-source framework streamlines deploying and managing these applications on Kubernetes clusters.

What is Theia Cloud?

Eclipse Theia allows building custom tools and IDEs that can be deployed as desktop applications or as browser applications. If you want to deploy Theia-based applications in the cloud, you need to set-up the hosting of such applications and this is where Theia Cloud comes in.

Theia Cloud enables seamless deployment and management of Theia-based tools and IDEs in the cloud. All users need to access a Theia-based application is a browser. Theia Cloud integrates smoothly with existing corporate infrastructure, including developer portals and authentication services, without dictating a specific user experience.

Key benefits of Theia Cloud include:

• Proven in Production: Theia Cloud is used by a diverse set of organizations to host Theia-based applications in the cloud in production. Many of these users share their experiences and improvements back to Theia Cloud, enabling a continuous process of industrial hardening.

• Flexible and Lean: Theia Cloud is meant as a basis to build your own hosting solution for Theia-based applications. It provides you with all core functionality, but it is not bloated with specific, speculative features. Therefore, the framework is very lean, slim in terms of performance and provides you with full flexibility.

• Vanilla Kubernetes: Theia Cloud does not reinvent the wheel, it uses vanilla Kubernetes facilities wherever possible. Theia Cloud can be seen as a thin layer on top of standard Kubernetes. Therefore you can use existing knowledge and the existing tool ecosystem available for Kubernetes.

• Open and Vendor Neutral: Theia Cloud is developed under a commercial-friendly open-source license (EPL 2.0) under a vendor-neutral governance. Furthermore, Theia Cloud applies open standards, e.g., for authentication (OAuth), orchestration, containers, and the underlying runtime.

Explore Theia Cloud through our online demo, which showcases demo deployments of several tools, including the Theia IDE.

Theia Cloud Joins the Theia Project

With the 1.0 release, Theia Cloud is now officially part of the Theia project. Hosted by the Eclipse Foundation under the Eclipse Public License 2.0, it remains a vendor-neutral, open-source solution. This ensures adopters retain full control over their environments while fostering commercial adoption and a thriving open ecosystem.

Theia Cloud 1.0: Industrial Hardening for Production

The 1.0 release emphasizes industrial hardening to meet production environment demands. Real-world deployments and user feedback have informed improvements in stability, performance, maintainability, and security. Here are a few highlights of the 1.0 release:

Key Improvements

• Many Security and Stability Enhancements: Numerous security and stability improvements have been implemented, informed by real-world production use and multiple runs of STRIDE analysis. These ensure that Theia Cloud remains robust and secure for enterprise-grade deployments.

• Helm Charts for Deployment: Simplify Kubernetes deployment with Helm Charts, streamlining installation, configuration, and updates.

• Terraform Examples: We provide examples for using Terraform in various scenarios, such as the Try Theia Cloud use cases (GKE example and Minikube example). Terraform has been successfully integrated into our workflows, including deployments for the “try now” feature, showcasing its versatility and ease of integration.

• Enhanced Logging and Monitoring: Improved logging granularity and monitoring enhance system observability, making it easier to manage and debug deployments. As part of this enhancement, additional labels are now set on resources, allowing for easier filtering using existing Kubernetes tools.

• Monitoring Component: The monitoring component is an extensible module that enables integration of monitoring capabilities into your deployment. By default, it includes functionality to track user activity within workspaces and can automatically shut down idle workspaces after a configurable timeout. Its flexible architecture allows developers to extend and customize it to meet specific monitoring requirements, ensuring it adapts to diverse operational needs.

Why Choose Theia Cloud?

Theia Cloud 1.0 represents a significant step forward for cloud-based development tools. Whether you’re hosting an IDE, a specialized tool, or a custom environment, Theia Cloud provides a robust, flexible foundation with modern, web-based accessibility.

Try Theia Cloud today to experience its potential for transforming development workflows.

If you’re interested in building and hosting custom tools or IDEs based on Eclipse Theia, EclipseSource offers consulting and implementation services for Theia Cloud, Eclipse Theia, AI-powered tools, and web-based tools in general.

Contact us to discuss your use case!