How to use Open in Codespaces in GitHub Classroom

[lovellbrian]

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I want to put Open in Codespaces in the README of a GitHub Classroom assignment. I want the Codespace to be created from the students copy of the template Assignment. I have looked at the link below and this method requires me to specify the OWNER and REPO-NAME in the URL. However this will change for each student, so I can't hardcode this information into the URL. Is there a way to do some form of variable substitution in this link?

https://codespaces.new/OWNER/REPO-NAME

https://docs.github.com/en/codespaces/setting-up-your-project-for-codespaces/setting-up-your-repository/facilitating-quick-creation-and-resumption-of-codespaces

[hrishikesh-kocharekar-dev]

Hi Brian, Yes, you can use variables in the URL to dynamically generate the link to create a Codespace for each student. Here's an example of how you can do this:

In your README, include a link to create a Codespace with the following format:
https://codespaces.new/${{ github.repository_owner }}/${{ github.event.repository.name }}

This URL uses the ${{}} syntax to reference two GitHub Actions context variables: github.repository_owner and github.event.repository.name. These variables will be replaced with the repository owner (i.e., the organization or user that owns the repository) and the repository name, respectively.

When a student clones the template Assignment repository, they will also clone the README file with the dynamic Codespace link. When they click the link, it will automatically generate a Codespace using their copy of the repository.

Note: If you want to make sure that the link works for all students, regardless of whether they are using a personal or organizational account to access GitHub Classroom, you can use the ${{ github.repository }} variable instead of ${{ github.event.repository.name }}. This variable will always reference the full repository name, including the organization or user that owns it.

[lovellbrian]

Dear Hrishikesh, This is just what I was looking for. I could not find this feature documented anywhere. Thanks a lot. I will try it out now and see how I go. All the very best, Brian

[lovellbrian]

I can't get this (Yandex?) variable substitution to work on GitHub when the md file is in preview mode.

This is the original hardcoded line:

I tried the line below as suggested by you and the spaces break the URL
[](https://codespaces.new/${{ github.repository_owner }}/${{ github.event.repository.name }})

I removed the spaces and the URL is now accepted.

This links to https://codespaces.new/${{github.repository_owner}}/%{{github.event.repository.name}}
So no variable rewriting is taking place.

I then tried moving the $ sign to look like shell script variable substitution

This links to https://codespaces.new/{{$github.repository_owner}}/{{$github.event.repository.name}}
Once again there is no rewriting occurring.

I'd appreciate any suggestions you may have.

The file is here https://github.com/lovellbrian/course22/blob/master/getting-started-with-codespaces.md and is a fork of the fastai course.

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