EduIDE

Main Theia Repository — Eclipse Theia IDE Repository

EduIDE provides browser-based, language-specific IDE environments for higher education. Students open a full IDE in their browser — no local installation required — pre-configured with the compiler, language server, linter, and editor settings appropriate for their course.

Instructors select a matching image in Artemis when creating a programming exercise. EduIDE handles the rest.

All images share a common two-tier build:

1. base-ide — Compiles the Theia application from source, downloads core plugins (Git, Markdown, Scorpio/Artemis integration), and produces a slim runtime layer.
2. Language images — Each starts from the base-ide layer, adds a language compiler/runtime (via apt), and downloads language-specific VS Code extensions from Open VSX.

This means Theia is only built once. Adding or updating a language image does not require rebuilding the IDE.

• Docker with BuildKit enabled (Docker Desktop 4.x or Docker Engine 23+)
• Docker Compose v2.x

Pull and run any language image directly:

docker run --rm -p 3000:3000 ghcr.io/eduide/eduide/java-17:latest

Then open http://localhost:3000/ in your browser.

The repository includes docker-compose.images.yml which builds all images and wires them together. Language images automatically consume the locally-built base-ide via additional_contexts.

Build everything (base first, then all language images in parallel):

docker compose -f docker-compose.images.yml build

Build a single language image (base is rebuilt or reused from cache):

docker compose -f docker-compose.images.yml build java-17

Start a specific IDE and open it in the browser:

docker compose -f docker-compose.images.yml up java-17
# → http://localhost:3003/

Port mapping per service:

images/
  base-ide/          # Builds Theia from source (BaseDockerfile)
  <lang>/            # One directory per language (ToolDockerfile)
    ToolDockerfile
    package.json.patch              # Plugin overrides merged on top of root package.json
    project/.vscode/settings.json  # Workspace settings loaded by Theia on startup
applications/browser/        # Browser target (compiled into base-ide)
theia-extensions/product/    # Custom branding extension (included in all images)
scripts/                     # Utility scripts (update-theia-version, make-files-writeable)
docker-compose.images.yml    # Local build and run
.github/workflows/build.yml  # CI: builds and pushes all images to GHCR

1. Create images/<lang>/ with three files:

   ToolDockerfile — copy images/c/ToolDockerfile as a starting point and replace the apt packages and plugin download step with your language's tooling.

   package.json.patch — declare only the plugin overrides. The file is deep-merged with the root package.json at build time:

   {
     "theiaPlugins": {
       "my-publisher.my-extension": "https://open-vsx.org/api/my-publisher/my-extension/1.0.0/file/..."
     },
     "theiaPluginsExcludeIds": [
       "vscode.php"
     ]
   }

   Browse plugins at open-vsx.org.

   project/.vscode/settings.json — workspace settings Theia loads on startup. At minimum include:

   {
     "extensions.ignoreRecommendations": true,
     "files.exclude": { "**/.theia": true, "persisted": true, "lost+found": true },
     "telemetry.telemetryLevel": false
   }

2. Add the service to docker-compose.images.yml following the existing pattern (include additional_contexts so local builds use the locally-built base):

   <lang>:
     image: theia-<lang>:local
     build:
       context: .
       dockerfile: images/<lang>/ToolDockerfile
       args:
         BASE_IMAGE: theia-base:local
       additional_contexts:
         base-ide: "service:base-ide"
     depends_on:
       - base-ide
     ports:
       - "30XX:3000"

3. Add a matrix entry to .github/workflows/build.yml under the build-and-push job so CI publishes the image.

4. Test locally before opening a PR:

   docker compose -f docker-compose.images.yml build <lang>
   docker compose -f docker-compose.images.yml up <lang>
   # open http://localhost:30XX/ and verify the IDE starts and the language tools work

All @theia/* packages must stay in sync. Use the provided script:

yarn update:theia <new-version>
# example:
yarn update:theia 1.69.0

Then rebuild and test locally before pushing.

The GitHub Actions workflow (.github/workflows/build.yml) runs on every pull request, push to main, and release:

• PRs produce images tagged pr-<number> and pr-<number>-<sha> — useful for review testing.
• main produces latest and latest-<sha>.
• Releases produce a semver tag and a SHA-tagged variant.

The base-ide image is always built first. All language images are built in parallel afterwards, receiving BASE_IDE_TAG as a build argument so they pull the matching base.

Arm64 builds are included for all events except PRs (to keep PR feedback fast).

MIT

"Theia" is a trademark of the Eclipse Foundation — https://www.eclipse.org/theia