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[MNT] Tracking issue: GitHub codespaces #26169
Description
Summary
Recently, we added support for GitHub codespaces. With this configuration, contributors can open a pre-configured development environment and get started with contributing to Matplotlib right away from their browser.
If you go to matplotlib/matplotlib or your own fork (preferred) and choose "Create codespaces on <branch>":
This will open a browser window with a VSCode interface and a pre-installed development environment built over an Ubuntu image. You can then do
$ conda activate mpl-dev $ python -m pip install -e .
After that you can run tests, build the documentation and run other commands.
This configuration also includes a lightweight fluxbox environment
This is a tracking issue to gather feedback and ideas for improvement on the codespaces configuration.
Pending tasks are:
- documentation on how to use it and current features (like connecting to the fluxbox desktop to see plots).
- auto-activate the conda environment (currently a limitation of codespaces)
- have pre-commit automatically installed
- suggest creating a new feature branch instead of committing to the main branch (important for new contributors)
Activity
timhoffm commented on Jun 26, 2023
As a remark: By default, README.md is opened in the online editor. We should show a custom page that with targeted information on the use of codespaces.
melissawm commented on Jun 27, 2023
I haven't found a good way to preview a markdown file (instead of just opening it) so I opened a ticket here: https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/59435
github-actions commented on Sep 21, 2026
This issue has been marked "inactive" because it has been 365 days since the last comment. If this issue is still present in recent Matplotlib releases, or the feature request is still wanted, please leave a comment and this label will be removed. If there are no updates in another 30 days, this issue will be automatically closed, but you are free to re-open or create a new issue if needed. We value issue reports, and this procedure is meant to help us resurface and prioritize issues that have not been addressed yet, not make them disappear. Thanks for your help!
melissawm commented on Sep 21, 2026
Should we close this issue or keep as a general catch-all for codespaces issues?
story645 commented on Sep 22, 2026
Your call?
melissawm commented on Sep 22, 2026
I'll close and we can open dedicated issues if problems arise. Thanks!