
Repl from Repo - archmaster
https://repl.it/site/blog/github
======
ZainRiz
Fyi, there's another similar project called gitpod.io

Take any github repo, prepend the url with
"[https://gitpod.io/#"](https://gitpod.io/#"), and hit Enter

(so
[https://github.com/ZainRizvi/UseRWithGpus](https://github.com/ZainRizvi/UseRWithGpus)
would become
[https://gitpod.io/#https://github.com/ZainRizvi/UseRWithGpus](https://gitpod.io/#https://github.com/ZainRizvi/UseRWithGpus))

That'll open up an instance of VSCode in a web browser and you can start
coding

~~~
amasad
Gitpod is awesome and a really bright team behind it.

However, Repl.it is different in that we're focused on speed and minimal
configuration. You don't even need to login to clone a repo and start it.

The URL structure is repl.it/github/<GitHub path>

Try this 2048 implementation in C:
[https://repl.it/github/mevdschee/2048.c](https://repl.it/github/mevdschee/2048.c)

(You can even run it on your phone!)

~~~
MuffinFlavored
If the Github repo has a docker-compose.yml file in it, can it spin up all of
the containers?

~~~
amasad
Not yet. But planned

~~~
MuffinFlavored
I don't see how repl.it doesn't get burned doing that. You could host my
entire ELK stack and Postgres database... what would the resource limits be?
What would the cost be?

~~~
sansnomme
I think repl.it is still at the growth and scale stage. Actual profitability
probably won't matter much for another couple of years. (They run on Google
Cloud so the costs are pretty insane without VC funding.)

------
msoad
repl.it is a god sent for low income students I teach CS to. They only have
Chromebooks but can run Python, C++ and more.

My feedback to the team is that please try using it on those slow and small
Chromebooks. You'll see how the navbar is eating 20% of vertical space in a 11
inch Chromebook. Make the UI dense. Those kids have sharp eyes!

~~~
amasad
Chromebooks are one of the primary devices we test on
([https://m.imgur.com/a/3eCnqUE](https://m.imgur.com/a/3eCnqUE))!

That's a good point tho, will discuss with the team.

~~~
saagarjha
I have that exact Chromebook! It runs Linux pretty well, but I can see schools
not being all to pleased with going in that direction…

------
archmaster
Repl.it is an amazing cloud-based IDE, and I'm super excited that they just
launched a Git GUI and GitHub integration! Now it's possible to import almost
any repository from GitHub in the click of a button and get it running with a
very minimal amount of configuration.

There are still a few kinks to work out, but I can see this being very useful.

~~~
dang
It's great to post something you find exciting, but "Show HN" is explicitly
for sharing your own work. So please don't use that in titles unless it's
something you made.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html)

------
itin
I've been a fan of repl.it from the start, though I failed to see the utility
that a senior dev/someone with compute resources would derive from it. With
this new feature, however, I think repl.it will save developers a lot of time.
Kudos!

~~~
amasad
Thank you! ^^

According to "disruption" theory we're on our way :P
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innovator%27s_Dilemma](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innovator%27s_Dilemma)

------
westoncb
Somebody submitted a PR to a JavaScript/glsl game of mine last night
([https://github.com/westoncb/under-game](https://github.com/westoncb/under-
game)), adding a badge/link that would open the repo on repl.it.

I looked around at the user's activity a bit and they had sent essentially the
same PR to at least one other repo recently, and appeared to be affiliated
with repl.it.

I went ahead and merged the PR since it does just seem like a small net
positive addition.

I still wonder though: what downside to this might I be missing?

~~~
davesque
Yep, I got the same thing. Haven't merged it and probably won't. Since it
appeared to be a bot that created the PR, it seemed like a rather underhanded,
spammy way of promoting the repl.it project. It kinda reminds me of the whole
tip4commit debacle with the flask project:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8542969](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8542969)

~~~
amasad
We're certainly not operating any bots if that's what you're implying.

~~~
davesque
The PR's commit message said that the commit was "automatically generated on
repl.it". I guess I don't know how to interpret that. Maybe I'm mistaken and
someone did manually created the PR with a bad commit message:
[https://github.com/davesque/go.py/pull/2](https://github.com/davesque/go.py/pull/2)

~~~
davesque
And I did eventually confirm that the commit was, in fact, created manually by
an actual person and not a bot.

------
AcerbicZero
I really like Repl.it as a learning tool, and I used it a bunch while
transitioning from ruby to python, although its also given me a few bad
habits, and I've never been able to find much use for it while working on
"real" projects. Still, I pull it up from time to time, just to confirm some
bit of code I'm working on.

it's still the best multi-language Powershell ISE-ish repl I've ever used
though :)

~~~
amasad
Give it a try for a "real" project and see how you feel about it. We've
improved a lot recently. I'd love to hear your feedback when you try it out:
amjad@repl.it

------
zapita
I would be surprised if repl.it didn't get acquired by Github before the end
of 2020.

~~~
PRTIFFANY
my thoughts exactly

------
chrisaycock
I can get the repo cloned, but nothing builds automatically. Specifically,
when I click the "run on repl.it" badge, a repl.it command line appears with
the cloned repo, but the _run_ command from the .replit file is not invoked. I
can type the command manually and then everything works.

I tried the first three examples (ascii_racer, minesweeper, ddgr) on both
Safari (with ad blocker) and Chrome (no ad blocker). I do not have a repl.it
account, so I am not logged into anything.

Overall this feature looks very impressive.

~~~
sweetjerry
hi, repl.it engineer here. Are you hitting the run button in the header?

We now put you in a blank repl, and will upgrade you to the right language
once we read the .replit file. After we do that reload, hitting the run button
should work!

~~~
chrisaycock
Oh! My bad. The "Run" button is featured in the video.

------
skiboyec
I look forward to using this

------
anaphor
What's the recommended way to deal with projects that have system level
dependencies? (E.g. in C). I have build scripts but no way to install
anything. Do I have to use docker or some other container technology?

Edit: sounds like they plan on allowing docker containers which would be
really nice. Great job on the MVP.

------
gnumoksha
There is a well established FOSS IDE that does the job:
[http://eclipse.org/che](http://eclipse.org/che) (SaaS
[http://codenvy.com](http://codenvy.com))

------
ebbflowgo
This is awesome guys! One conversion suggestion, in your "Try it out" section,
add the repl.it link beside the project. I went into ascii_racer and didn't
find the repl.it button so I bounced.

From repo to running repl is a dream.

------
snek
so it tries to automatically submit prs to repos using the users? sounds like
why typescript has the @types org. I'd be annoyed receiving prs of weird
metadata from people using some random site or tool.

~~~
enigmadev
No not automatically! It obviously suggest implementing it and it shows you
what you have to do and prepares a pr.

------
wishinghand
Will this change the pricing model at all? Or add a new tier? NBD if it does,
just wondering if a lot of people start using this if Repl.it can keep the
lights on.

~~~
amasad
No, not at all. Our infra costs are a lot less than most people expect.

~~~
JoshTriplett
Can you talk a little bit about your infrastructure and how you manage that?

I'm also very interested in the distributed filesystem you mentioned as item 5
in the post.

------
zubairq
Can I run nodejs projects on this? I wanted to see if I could run yazz Pilot
on this

~~~
archmaster
You can! In fact, I've found that it actually works the _best_ with Node.js

~~~
faitswulff
Does run on repl.it work with all of the languages that normal repl.it
supports?

~~~
archmaster
It does!

~~~
zubairq
I just tried to run zubairq/pilot from the github importer on repl.it, and
after I ran:

npm install node src/electron.js

... __* Loading driver: __* : demo_timer __* Loading driver: __* : quicksort
__* Loading driver: __* : bubblesort __* Loading driver: __* : new __* Loading
driver: __* : new_microservice add_rest_api called Loaded all apps (may use
already loaded drivers)

Yazz Pilot started on: [http://172.18.0.154:3000](http://172.18.0.154:3000)

It starts up alot slower than running on a desktop machine, but when I go to
[http://172.18.0.154:3000](http://172.18.0.154:3000) it never seems to connect
from a browser. What am I doing wrong here?

~~~
amasad
Try listening on 0.0.0.0 which will listen on all IPs on the machine and is
required for running on remote environments like repl.it. When you do that we
automatically detect the port open and show you a web view.

~~~
zubairq
Ok, thanks, that worked. And I learnt something new, about 0.0.0.0 even
existing! :)Now I have the problem the Repl.it VM running Yazz/pilot keeps
crashing after a few minutes started

------
mattigames
The big thing missing on repl.it is to use visual studio code instead of their
own editor (think like Stackblitz), that would really be a game changer to be
able to use one custom key-shortcuts, to use vscode plugins and so on.

~~~
amasad
We decided against using vscode verbatim for a few reasons, chief among them
is keeping repl.it simple for people starting to code.

And as much as I like vscode and the team behind it, it doesn't seem smart to
tie your core tech to a project under the control of MSFT.

With regards to extensions you can easily imagine a vscode-replit bridge.

Finally, we came up with a novel approach to IDE/window management that we
think people will be excited to write extensions for when we open it up:
[https://repl.it/blog/ide](https://repl.it/blog/ide)

~~~
mattigames
I disagree, vscode UI is pretty simple and even if not you can always creat a
basic theme and use it as the initial default (after all it's just css/html)
to make it simpler for novice users, the code is not really under the control
of Microsoft in the sense the is open source and in the worse case scenario
you create a fork from the latest build, which is already pretty stable.
Microsoft itself realized the reality of this rationale and that's why their
latest web browser is Chromium-based despite Chromium being under the
"control" of Google.

~~~
amasad
For engineers it may look simple but for someone new to programming -- and
we've done the research -- the more elements in the app the more easy it is to
get overwhelmed (cognitive load).

Repl.it, with all the features we added, still loads with an editor and a
console and a huge green run button. Most users, even those very new to
programming, intuitively get it.

>the code is not really under the control of Microsoft in the sense the is
open source and in the worse case scenario you create a fork from the latest
build, which is already pretty stable.

I'd like to see a 10 person startup maintain a monster codebase fork like
that. I agree it's a nice insurance policy, but it just not realistic.

Anyways, your original feedback is well taken and we'll make sure to create
some compat layer :-)

