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For Students: Using the CodeHS Sandbox
For Students: Using the CodeHS Sandbox

Learn how to create and share programs using the Sandbox IDE

Sara Jenis avatar
Written by Sara Jenis
Updated over 6 months ago

The CodeHS Sandbox is a place where you can write programs outside of the bounds of an exercise. In the Sandbox, you can start a program from scratch in any of our programming languages and create anything that you can imagine.

Creating Programs in the Sandbox

  • Go to codehs.com/sandbox or click on the Sandbox link in the top left corner of any page. Make sure you are logged in so that you can save the program to your account.

Screenshot of the student homepage with an arrow to the Sandbox tab at the top left of the screen

  • Name your program and then click Create Program

    Screenshot of the Create New Program option in the Student Sandbox

  • Select any one of the programming languages from the CodeHS curriculum, or additional languages such as Elm, SQL, C, and C++.

Screenshot of all the program types in the sandbox

You can also create and edit your very own website, that is hosted by CodeHS, by clicking on Edit Homepage. You can access and share your personalized web page by going to your username followed by .codehs.me.

Screenshot of the Edit Homepage button in the student sandbox

Creating a Sandbox Program from a .zip file

You can also upload a multi-file program from a .zip file, which will unzip and import all files into a new program:

Screenshot of the Student sandbox with an arrow pointing to the create program dropdown and another arrow showing where to click to upload a zip file

Managing Programs

You can create folders to help organize your programs. To create folders, click the blue plus sign, enter a name for your new folder, and click Add Folder

Gif demonstration showing how to Create a folder in the sandbox

You can easily organize, rename, and delete programs. Click on the '...' to the far right in the program list to modify a program:

Screenshot of the three dot menu next to a sandbox program

Options Include:

  • Rename: Rename the Sandbox Program

  • Copy: Make a duplicate of the program inside your own Sandbox

  • Move to Folder: Move program into one of your folders

  • Share: Create a share link for program

  • Delete: Delete the Sandbox Program

To recover deleted programs, visit your Account Settings, open the Code History tab, and choose Sandbox Trash.

Screenshot showing the account dropdown menu in the top right of the CodeHS website with an arrow pointing to the Account Settings option
Screenshot of the Account Settings highlighting the Code History tab and the Sandbox Trash button

Sharing Programs

Sharing and Embedding Sandbox Programs

There are many ways to share a Sandbox program, including sharing a link and embedding it in another webpage. Click Share to get a URL to share with others and choose to show or hide your code.

Screenshot of the code editor highlighting the share button
Screenshot of the pop-up window once the share button is clicked in a sandbox program

Forking Sandbox Programs

Forking is the ability to copy a program to your own sandbox, essentially taking a snapshot of it and making it your own. When viewing a shared Sandbox, click the fork button to create a separate copy of the program.

Screenshot of the code editor for a sandbox program highlighting the fork button

Collaborate on Programs With Others

With Collaboration, you and your classmates can use the CodeHS IDE to work together on the same coding activity live and in real time!

Gif showing multiple students editing a Sandbox program together

To start a real-time collaboration session:

  1. Go to the Sandbox program you'd like to collaborate on

  2. Open the Collaborate tab in the left navigation panel

  3. Enable Collaboration

  4. Share the link that is generated with your peers. Anyone with collaboration access will be able to make changes to the program until their access is disabled.

  5. Remember to save as you work!

See For Students: Real Time Collaboration to learn more about collaborating on CodeHS!

Learn More

See Tutorials to level up your coding skills with our interactive Tutorials!

Still have questions? Ask your teacher for help!


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