OpenShift Dev Spaces architecture

OpenShift Dev Spaces connects three groups of components through Dev Workspace custom resources on OpenShift: server components, the Dev Workspace Operator, and user workspaces. OpenShift RBAC controls access to all resources.

High-level architecture diagram showing OpenShift Dev Spaces components interacting with the Dev Workspace operator — Figure 1. High-level OpenShift Dev Spaces architecture with the Dev Workspace operator

OpenShift Dev Spaces runs on three groups of components:

OpenShift Dev Spaces server components: Manage User project and workspaces. The main component is the User dashboard, from which users control their workspaces.
Dev Workspace operator: Creates and controls the necessary OpenShift objects to run User workspaces. Including Pods, Services, and PersistentVolumes.
User workspaces: Container-based development environments, the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) included.

The role of these OpenShift features is central:

Dev Workspace Custom Resources: Valid OpenShift objects representing the User workspaces and manipulated by OpenShift Dev Spaces. It is the communication channel for the three groups of components.
OpenShift role-based access control (RBAC): Controls access to all resources.

Additional resources links to dedicated pages for the server deployments, the Dev Workspace Operator reconciliation loop, and the structure of user workspace pods. The Dev Workspace Operator repository and the OpenShift Custom Resources documentation provide implementation details.