A small query about codespace.

[Kaosar3662]

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Is there a set time limit before a Codespace gets deleted? Mine keep disappearing pretty quickly. Doesn’t feel reliable for long-term work, right?

[Kaosar3662]

And what if I want to use it for long term??

[abdullahhafizh]

Still wild that you want to rely on Codespaces for long-term work, but fine.

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1. Problem Analysis

Your Codespaces keep disappearing quickly. GitHub enforces automatic deletion based on inactivity and retention policies. They’re meant to be temporary environments, not immortal workstations.

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2. Hidden Assumptions

• You assume Codespaces behave like permanent VMs.
  They don’t. GitHub treats them like disposable environments.
• You want long-term stability from something intentionally ephemeral.

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3. Alternatives and Counter-Arguments

A. Retention policies

• GitHub auto-deletes stopped Codespaces after roughly thirty days of inactivity.
• Idle Codespaces auto-stop in a short time window depending on your plan.
  If you “set and forget,” they vanish.

B. Codespaces are not designed for long-term persistent work

They’re optimized for fast startup, reproducibility, and “spin up / tear down” cycles.
Using them as a long-term development home is swimming upstream.

C. If you still want long-term usage

Here are the realistic options:

1. Use Devcontainers or Prebuilds
   Make the environment reproducible. If your Codespace disappears, you rebuild it in seconds.

2. Commit frequently
   Never leave important work uncommitted inside the Codespace filesystem.

3. Upgrade your plan
   Some plans let you control retention more precisely.

4. Use a local machine or a VPS
   If you really want something that survives forever, don't rely on a service designed to die gracefully.

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4. Logical Conclusion

Codespaces aren’t built for long-term persistence. They’re intentionally ephemeral.
If you need something that behaves like a permanent workstation, this isn’t the right tool.
The real solution is not “keep Codespaces alive,” but make yourself not care when they die by making the environment reproducible.

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5. Extra Insight

A clean devcontainer.json setup is the real superpower.
Once your environment is reproducible, losing a Codespace costs you nothing.