Introducing Layerbase Workspaces: Your Own Cloud Development Machine
Your development machine accumulates things: repositories, dependencies, a terminal running a build, another waiting for your next instruction. Moving to another computer means recreating some of that state. Closing your laptop means the work running on it cannot keep going.
Layerbase Workspaces gives that work a private Linux machine in the cloud. Your files and tools live there. You connect through the browser terminal or SSH, work in your repositories, and return to the same machine later.
Workspaces is in beta as part of the early adopter program. It is available from the Workspaces dashboard, with a monthly subscription for each machine.
A machine you can make your own
A workspace is a Linux VM with its own filesystem and an Ubuntu user with sudo access. You can install project dependencies, run Docker, clone repositories, and use the command-line tools your project needs.
That matters when the environment is part of the work. A project might need a particular runtime, a local service, and a build tool that takes a while to configure. Those changes stay on your workspace between connections. You do not need to recreate them every time you open a browser tab.
The starting workflow is straightforward:
- Create a workspace and choose its size.
- Review the monthly price and complete checkout.
- Wait for setup to finish.
- Open the terminal, clone your repository, and work.
Choose enough memory for the project, not just the terminal. A small command-line task and a large application build have very different requirements.
Bring your existing coding tools
The dashboard provides installation and sign-in controls for supported coding agents. Installing a tool and authenticating it are separate steps: the machine needs the software, and the software needs your account.
For example, you can install Claude Code and complete its account sign-in from your browser. The subscription walkthrough covers that flow, including how to avoid accidentally selecting API billing.
Your workspace subscription pays for the machine. Agent subscriptions and API usage remain separate, with the provider's own limits and account requirements. Moving a tool to a remote machine does not give it a new usage allowance.
You can also use ordinary development tools directly. Workspaces does not require every command to go through an agent.
Close the tab and reconnect
The web terminal opens a shell on your workspace. Its session uses tmux, so disconnecting from the browser leaves the terminal session on the machine. Reopen the terminal to return to it.
That is useful when you start a task at your desk and check it from another computer. The remote machine keeps running independently of your laptop.
There are practical limits. A program can finish, fail, or pause for input. A reboot or a stopped workspace ends running processes. A persistent terminal makes disconnection convenient; it does not make a job immune to interruption. Save important output to files and push your code to your repository.
The terminal also supports file uploads, which is useful for handing a screenshot or sample file to a tool. See the terminal documentation for supported files and upload limits.
How it fits with Layerbase databases
Workspaces and managed databases solve different parts of development. A workspace runs your code and tools. A managed database provides a database service your application connects to.
You can connect an application on your workspace to a Layerbase database using its connection details. You can also run development services on the VM yourself. In that case, you are responsible for their configuration and data; installing a database on a workspace does not turn it into a managed database service.
Keep development credentials scoped to the resources the project needs. A remote development environment should not need unrestricted production access just to run a test suite.
Monthly billing and beta expectations
Each workspace has a monthly price shown before checkout. Applicable taxes are calculated during checkout. Stopping the machine does not pause the subscription; use the renewal controls when you want to stop renewing it.
Export your files before paid access ends. Do not depend on a recovery window after expiry or keep the only copy of important work on the machine.
During beta, expect rough edges in provisioning, tool installation, and connection flows. Keep code in version control, keep backups of data that cannot be recreated, and use a separate production hosting environment for applications that need production availability guarantees. Review the terms and acceptable-use policy before purchasing.
If you want a development machine you can return to from another computer, create a Layerbase Workspace. Start with one repository and install the tools it needs.
Keep reading
- GitHub Codespaces Alternatives for Persistent Development EnvironmentsCompare Layerbase Workspaces, Coder, Ona, and a DIY VPS by what persists, who operates the environment, and how you pay. Codespaces may still be the right choice.
- How to Run Claude Code on a VPS With Your Existing SubscriptionInstall Claude Code on a Layerbase Workspace, sign in with your own account, and run it in a persistent browser terminal. Keep machine costs and model billing separate.
- MariaDB 13.0 and 12.3 LTS on Layerbase: which line to pickMariaDB 13.0 and 12.3 are now offered on Layerbase alongside 10.11, 11.4 and 11.8, and the older lines have been refreshed to their current patches. Here is what actually shipped in 13.0, what 12.3 changed, why one of them is the LTS and the other is not, and what happens to databases already on 11.8 (nothing).
- We put the Postgres write-ahead log on object storage. We did not put the database there.Databricks rebuilt Postgres so that object storage is the database. We shipped a much smaller thing: the write-ahead log leaves the box continuously, the live database stays on local disk. Here is the whole design, the two bugs that taught us the most, and an honest account of what this architecture does not buy.