Gitpod: Make Gitpod a Progressive Web App

[felipecrs]

With this, Gitpod workspaces could be opened in Gitpod PWA instead of as a tab in the browser. It would save a lot of space in the top bar and make Gitpod online IDE feels more like a desktop app.

CodeSandbox supports it: https://codesandbox.io/s/.

Note that users can force the install of Gitpod as a PWA by themselves, however, supporting it by default has some benefits:

• better icons
• better window title
• title bar theming
• a beautiful prompt to install as a app in Google Chrome
• and more, of course.
• ability to open by default new workspaces in Gitpod's previously installed PWA

Look at how different the size could be in the browser:
Before

After

[svenefftinge]

Did you try
https://itnext.io/i-wrote-a-chrome-extension-gitpod-window-here-is-what-i-learned-8583a3a179dd

[Kreyren]

kreyren would implement this as a configuration option and to be used on demand if needed

[felipecrs]

@svenefftinge that's cool, pretty much what I was looking for.

However, with the PWA this extension would not be required. So, I think the PWA is still an improvement, don't you think?

[jankeromnes]

I 100% agree that it would be super cool to make Gitpod a Progressive Web App that you can install on any device and use full-screen / with native keybindings. 🚀

For that, we should:

• [x] Add a manifest.json file: https://gitpod.io/manifest.json
• [ ] Add a Service Worker with a fetch handler, to explicitly implement caching & offline behavior (doesn't have to be full-blown functional offline IDE at first, but can work towards that in small steps)

Learn more: https://web.dev/progressive-web-apps/

[stoopman]

are there any concrete plans for this feature?