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How To Set Up GitHub Codespaces

GitHub Codespaces provides a ready-to-use cloud environment for this training. Participants can start coding immediately without local installation.

What’s Inside

Path	Description
notebooks/	Training notebooks used during sessions
data/	Example data for exercises
.devcontainer/	Codespaces container configuration

Before The Session: Avoid Unexpected Charges

GitHub Codespaces is free up to a monthly allowance: 120 core-hours of compute and 15 GB-month of storage on a Free account; 180 core-hours and 20 GB-month on Pro. A typical training session on the default 2-core machine consumes a small fraction of this. The risk isn’t the session itself, but a codespace left running, or simply left undeleted, after the training ends.

If you have a GitHub Pro account with a payment method on file, exceeding the free tier can result in charges. On a Free account (or any account without a payment method), GitHub blocks usage instead of charging.

To make sure this training costs you nothing, do these three things on your account before you create the codespace:

1. Set a spending limit of $0: Go to github.com/settings/billing/budgets and confirm Codespaces is set to $0. This is the default for new accounts but worth checking.
2. Set the default idle timeout to 30 minutes: Go to github.com/settings/codespaces and set the default idle timeout to 30 minutes. This ensures the codespace auto-stops if you walk away.
3. Set the default retention period to 7 days: In the same page, set the default retention period to 7 days. This means if you forget to delete the codespace, it will auto-delete after a week, freeing up your storage quota.

After the session, you can also manually delete the codespace at github.com/codespaces by clicking the ... next to your codespace and selecting Delete. This is the best way to ensure you won’t be charged for unused resources.

Create A New Codespace

1. Open the repository page on GitHub.
2. Click the green Code button.
3. Open the Codespaces tab.
4. Click Create codespace on main.
5. Leave the default 2-core machine type selected.
6. Wait for the container to build and open in VS Code for the web. The first build takes a few minutes.

The environment is set up automatically: system libraries and Python packages are installed during the build, and this repository package is installed from source after the container starts. You do not need to run any setup commands yourself.

Run Notebooks

1. Open the notebooks/ folder in the file explorer.
2. Open the notebook assigned by the training lead.
3. Select the Python 3 kernel when prompted.
4. Run cells from top to bottom.

Add More Packages

Add packages to the dependencies list in pyproject.toml, then either run uv pip install --system -e . from a terminal in the running Codespace, or rebuild the container to re-run the post-create command:

• Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + P
• Codespaces: Rebuild Container

Common Troubleshooting

• First build takes too long: this is normal on initial startup; reload and reopen if needed.
• Package install fails: rerun the install commands and check internet/proxy settings.
• Kernel issues in notebooks: restart the kernel and rerun cells in order.
• Wrong repository version: verify your branch in the bottom-left status bar.

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