add enhanced docs for creating & troubleshooting templates (#2546)

Co-authored-by: Katie Horne <katie@coder.com>
2026-09-24 15:04:27 +08:00 · 2022-06-21 15:17:07 -05:00
parent 9d02a37ba9
commit 0585372170
1 changed files with 187 additions and 14 deletions
@@ -1,18 +1,20 @@
 # Templates

-Templates define the infrastructure underlying workspaces. Each Coder deployment
-can have multiple templates for different workloads, such as ones for front-end
-development, Windows development, and so on.
+Templates are written in standard Terraform and describe the infrastructure for
+workspaces (e.g., aws_instance, kubernetes_pod, or both).

-Coder manages templates, including sharing them and rolling out updates
-to everybody. Users can also manually update their workspaces.
+In most cases, a small group of users (Coder admins) manage templates. Then,
+other users provision their development workspaces from templates.

-## Manage templates
+## Add a template

-Coder provides production-ready [sample templates](https://github.com/coder/coder/tree/main/examples/templates),
-but you can modify the templates with Terraform.
+Before users can create workspaces, you'll need at least one template in Coder.

 ```sh
+# create a local directory to store templates
+mkdir -p $HOME/coder/templates
+cd $HOME/coder/templates
+
 # start from an example
 coder templates init

@@ -23,17 +25,188 @@ vim <template-name>/main.tf
 coder templates <create/update> <template-name>
 ```

-## Parameters
+> See the documentation and source code for each example in the
+> [examples/](https://github.com/coder/coder/tree/main/examples/templates)
+> directory in the repo.

-Templates often contain _parameters_. In Coder, there are two types of parameters:
+## Customize templates

- **Admin parameters** are set when a template is created/updated. These values
-  are often cloud secrets, such as a `ServiceAccount` token, and are annotated
+Example templates are not designed to support every use (e.g [examples/aws-linux](https://github.com/coder/coder/tree/main/examples/templates/aws-linux) does
+not support custom VPCs). You can add these features by editing the Terraform
+code once you run `coder templates init` (new) or `coder templates pull`
+(existing).
+
+- See [Creating and troubleshooting templates](#creating--troubleshooting-templates) for
+  more info
+
+## Concepts in templates
+
+While templates are written with standard Terraform, the
+[Coder Terraform Provider](https://registry.terraform.io/providers/coder/coder/latest/docs) is 
+used to define the workspace lifecycle and establish a connection from resources
+to Coder.
+
+Below is an overview of some key concepts in templates (and workspaces). For all
+template options, reference [Coder Terraform provider docs](https://registry.terraform.io/providers/kreuzwerker/docker/latest/docs/resources/container).
+
+### Resource
+
+Resources in Coder are simply [Terraform resources](https://www.terraform.io/language/resources). 
+If a Coder agent is attached to a resource, users can connect directly to the resource over
+SSH or web apps.
+
+### Coder agent
+
+Once a Coder workspace is created, the Coder agent establishes a connection
+between a resource (docker_container) and Coder, so that a user can connect to
+their workspace from the web UI or CLI. A template can have multiple agents to
+allow users to connect to multiple resources in their workspace. 
+
+> Resources must download and start the Coder agent binary to connect to Coder.
+> This means the resource must be able to reach your Coder URL.
+
+Use the Coder agent's init script to 
+
+```hcl
+data "coder_workspace" "me" {
+}
+
+resource "coder_agent" "pod1" {
+  os   = "linux"
+  arch = "amd64"
+}
+
+resource "kubernetes_pod" "pod1" {
+  spec {
+    ...
+    container {
+      command = ["sh", "-c", coder_agent.pod1.init_script]
+      env {
+        name  = "CODER_AGENT_TOKEN"
+        value = coder_agent.dev.token
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}
+```
+
+### Parameters
+
+Templates often contain _parameters_. These are defined by `variable` blocks in
+Terraform. There are two types of parameters:
+
+- **Admin/template-wide parameters** are set when a template is created/updated. These values
+  are often cloud configuration, such as a `VPC`, and are annotated
  with `sensitive = true` in the template code.
- **User parameters** are set when a user creates a workspace. They are unique
-  to each workspace, often personalization settings such as "preferred region"
+- **User/workspace parameters** are set when a user creates a workspace. These
+  values are often personalization settings such as "preferred region"
  or "workspace image".

+The template sample below uses *admin and user parameters* to allow developers to
+create workspaces from any image as long as it is in the proper registry:
+
+```hcl
+variable "image_registry_url" {
+  description = "The image registry developers can sele"
+  default     = "artifactory1.organization.com`
+  sensitive   = true # admin (template-wide) parameter
+}
+
+variable "docker_image_name" {
+  description = "The image your workspace will start from"
+  default     = "base_image"
+  sensitive   = false # user (workspace) parameter
+}
+
+resource "docker_image" "workspace" {
+  # ... other config
+  name = "${var.image_registry_url}/${var.docker_image_name}"
+}
+```
+
+### Persistent vs. ephemeral resources
+
+You can use the workspace state to ensure some resources in Coder can are
+persistent, while others are ephemeral.
+
+#### Start/stop
+
+Coder workspaces can be started/stopped. This is often used to save on cloud costs or enforce
+ephemeral workflows. When a workspace is started or stopped, the Coder server
+runs an additional
+[terraform apply](https://www.terraform.io/cli/commands/apply), informing the
+Coder provider that the workspace has a new transition state.
+
+This template sample has one persistent resource (docker image) and one ephemeral resource
+(docker volume).
+
+```sh
+data "coder_workspace" "me" {
+}
+
+resource "docker_volume" "home_volume" {
+  # persistent resource (remains a workspace is stopped)
+  count = 1
+  name  = "coder-${data.coder_workspace.me.owner}-${data.coder_workspace.me.name}-root"
+}
+
+resource "docker_container" "workspace" {
+  # ephemeral resource (deleted when workspace is stopped, created when started)
+  count = data.coder_workspace.me.start_count # 0 (stopped), 1 (started)
+  volumes {
+    container_path = "/home/coder/"
+    volume_name    = docker_volume.home_volume.name
+    read_only      = false
+  }
+  # ... other config
+}
+```
+
+#### Delete workspaces
+
+When a workspace is deleted, the Coder server essentially runs a
+[terraform destroy](https://www.terraform.io/cli/commands/destroy) to remove all
+resources associated with the workspace.
+
+> Terraform's
+> [prevent-destroy](https://www.terraform.io/language/meta-arguments/lifecycle#prevent_destroy)
+> and
+> [ignore-changes](https://www.terraform.io/language/meta-arguments/lifecycle#ignore_changes)
+> meta-arguments can be used to accidental data loss. 
+
+### Coder apps
+
+By default, all templates allow developers to connect over SSH and a web
+terminal. See [Configuring Web IDEs](./ides/configuring-web-ides.md) to
+learn how to give users access to additional web applications.
+
+## Creating & troubleshooting templates
+
+You can use any Terraform resources or modules with Coder! When working on
+templates, we recommend you refer to the following resources:
+
+- this document
+- [example templates](https://github.com/coder/coder/tree/main/examples/templates) code
+- [Coder Terraform provider](https://registry.terraform.io/providers/coder/coder/latest/docs)
+  documentation
+
+Occasionally, you may run into scenarios where the agent is not able to connect.
+This means the start script has failed.
+
+```sh
+$ coder ssh myworkspace
+Waiting for [agent] to connect...
+```
+
+While troubleshooting steps vary by resource, here are some general best
+practices:
+
+- Ensure the resource has `curl` installed
+- Ensure the resource can reach your Coder URL
+- Manually connect to the resource (e.g., `docker exec` or AWS console)
+  - The Coder agent logs are typically stored in (`/var/log/coder-agent.log`)
+
+
 ## Change Management

 We recommend source controlling your templates as you would other code.