Citrix Secure Developer Spaces™

Use Citrix Secure Access and Citrix Secure Developer Spaces™ with VS Code

March 3, 2026

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Citrix Secure Access with Chrome Enterprise Premium and Citrix Secure Developer Spaces™ (SDS) provide a high-performance, zero-trust environment for cloud-based development. You can access a full-featured version of Visual Studio Code (VS Code) directly within your web browser.

To optimize your workflow, you can install the SDS instance as a Progressive Web App (PWA). This allows you to run your development environment in a dedicated, standalone window rather than a browser tab, providing a native desktop experience.

Architecture of Citrix SDS PWAs

When you use Google Chrome or Chrome Enterprise Premium, a Progressive Web App (PWA) acts as a bridge between the local operating system and the secure Citrix cloud container. Unlike a standard browser shortcut, a PWA-installed SDS instance functions as a standalone application in the OS taskbar and manages its own windowing logic.

Installing the Citrix SDS VS Code instance as a PWA provides the following benefits:

Reduced context switching: Separates development workspaces from general web browsing.
Increased screen real estate: Removes browser UI elements, such as the address bar and bookmarks, to maximize the coding area.
System integration: Enables native OS shortcuts (such as Alt+Tab or Cmd+Tab) and keeps the IDE active even if you close the main browser window.

Install Citrix SDS as a PWA

Follow these steps to create a dedicated desktop shortcut for your Citrix SDS environment using Google Chrome or Chrome Enterprise Premium.

Access your workspace. Navigate to your organization’s Citrix SDS URL and launch your VS Code web workspace.
Install the application. In the Chrome address bar (Omnibox), select the Install icon (the monitor icon with a down arrow) to the right of the URL.

Note:

Alternatively, select the More menu (three vertical dots), select Save and Share, and then select Install page as app.
Configure the app name. In the dialog box, enter a name for the application (for example, Engineering-Prod-SDS) to help distinguish between multiple project environments.
Launch and pin the app. The SDS instance opens in a new, borderless window. To ensure permanent access, right-click the icon in your Windows taskbar or macOS Dock, and then select Pin.

Security for Chrome Enterprise Premium

For organizations using Chrome Enterprise Premium, PWA functionality remains governed by corporate policy. IT administrators can perform the following tasks:

Force-install the SDS PWA to developer machines using Chrome Policy.
Apply Data Loss Prevention (DLP) rules that persist within the standalone PWA window.
Maintain URL filtering to prevent the PWA from navigating to unauthorized external domains.

Using a PWA provides a local-application experience while maintaining the security standards of the Citrix containerized environment.

The official version of this content is in English. Some of the Cloud Software Group documentation content is machine translated for your convenience only. Cloud Software Group has no control over machine-translated content, which may contain errors, inaccuracies or unsuitable language. No warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, is made as to the accuracy, reliability, suitability, or correctness of any translations made from the English original into any other language, or that your Cloud Software Group product or service conforms to any machine translated content, and any warranty provided under the applicable end user license agreement or terms of service, or any other agreement with Cloud Software Group, that the product or service conforms with any documentation shall not apply to the extent that such documentation has been machine translated. Cloud Software Group will not be held responsible for any damage or issues that may arise from using machine-translated content.

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Use Citrix Secure Access and Citrix Secure Developer Spaces™ with VS Code

March 3, 2026

Contributed by:

March 3, 2026

Contributed by:

Use Citrix Secure Access and Citrix Secure Developer Spaces™ with VS Code

Architecture of Citrix SDS PWAs

Install Citrix SDS as a PWA

Security for Chrome Enterprise Premium

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