> See the full index of documentation pages at https://docs.zettabyte.com/llms.txt.

# Notebooks and IDEs

> Open a browser-based `Jupyter` or `VSCode` environment, with or without a GPU.

Source: https://docs.zettabyte.com/docs/run-on-gpus/notebooks-and-ides

Last updated: 2026-07-21

A web IDE is a browser-based `JupyterLab` or `VSCode` environment running on zCLOUD compute. The IDE page lists your environments and lets you create new ones. Each row has a link to open the environment, plus these columns: `Name/ID`, `Status`, `Type`, `Resource Name`, `GPU` and `CPU`, `User`, and `Creation Time`.

## Create a web IDE

Select **Create IDE**, choose `Jupyter` or `VSCode` as the `Type`, and set up the environment. **Advanced Settings** turns the single form into a three-step wizard with extra options.

### Basic (single form)

- `Name`: letters, numbers, and the symbols `- _ / ( )` are allowed.
- `Type`: `Jupyter` or `VSCode`.
- `Computing Config`: choose a `Resource Name` and set `GPU Count`, `CPU`, `Memory`, and `Local Storage`. For a GPU-backed environment, select a launched resource (see GPU instances). Setting `GPU Count` to `0` creates a free development machine.

Mount a `PVC` so your code and outputs persist beyond the life of the environment. See Storage and PVCs.

## Free development machine

A web IDE with GPU set to `0` is a free, CPU-only development machine. Free development machines are capped per tenant; creating another past the limit returns "Free development machine has reached the limit."

## Dev environment vs. tasks

> [!NOTE]
> **Package your code into an image for heavy work**
> The IDE is ideal for light iteration and testing. For heavy development, doing everything in the in-platform IDE is not realistic. The recommended pattern is to package your changes into a container image (ideally driven from CI or a version-controlled `Dockerfile`) and run it as a task. See Container images and How zCLOUD works.

You typically set up your environment (an IDE and/or an image) before creating a training task. A `PVC` lets your code and data persist between the two. See Run a training job.

> [!NOTE]
> **Shell access**
> Native SSH into a task pod is not available today. Interactive shell access is through the console into the pod (and the zCLOUD CLI exec path). See zCLOUD CLI.