The Ubuntu workspace is prepared for day-to-day work on platform projects. You get a desktop environment for editor, browser, and graphical tools, which you reach via RDP or, where offered, via VNC. The exact versions of the tools depend on the project, because asdf reads them from the .tool-versions of the respective repository.
Editors and AI agents
Cursor and Code Server are available for editing code. Cursor runs as a desktop program on the RDP desktop, while Code Server provides VS Code in the browser and is what sits behind the Apps button on the workspace card. Codex and Claude Code are installed for agentic work in the terminal. Skills, rules, and MCP come from the agent plugin (mp agent install) that ships with the workspace CLI. How you use the tools in a project is described under Cursor, VS Code and Antigravity, Claude Code, and Codex.
Runtimes through asdf
asdf installs Node.js with npm, Flutter, and other runtimes in the version that the repository requests in its .tool-versions. This is why a backend can use a different Node version than the homepage without the two interfering. When you change into a repository folder in the terminal, the matching version applies there automatically, and asdf current shows it. The Flutter toolchain is only present if a project requires it. How asdf and the env files work together is described under Local development.
Docker
Docker and Docker Compose are installed so that backends can start their local services. In a backend repository, mp run-local brings up the database and other services from the Compose configuration before the development server starts. You do not need to operate Docker yourself for this. If a port is in use or old containers are still running, the notes under Troubleshooting help.
Git and the mp CLI
Git is set up, and the repositories of your project are already cloned; you work with branches, commits, and push as on a local computer. The ap CLI is preinstalled. You use it to start applications, check the tools with mp doctor, and see the local ports of the repositories with mp ports. What else the CLI can do is described under Starting applications.