Working in Cloud Shell
IBM® Cloud Shell contains a personal workspace and sessions where you can run commands. You can open up to five concurrent sessions, which operate independently so you can work with different resources, regions, and accounts at once.
To open Cloud Shell, click the IBM Cloud Shell icon 
in the IBM Cloud console. A session starts and automatically logs you in to the IBM Cloud CLI with your current account.
Your Cloud Shell workspace
Each time that you open Cloud Shell, you connect to your Cloud Shell workspace. A workspace is a dedicated environment that holds your user and session data and provides temporary storage for you to work with files. Workspaces are separate for each user, account, and region, which each run in their own virtual machine. Only you can access your workspace, and if you're a user in multiple accounts, you have separate workspaces for each account, which keeps your data that is isolated and secure. For more information about storing data in Cloud Shell, see Temporary workspace storage.
Deleting your Cloud Shell workspace
Deleting your Cloud Shell workspace ends and deletes all sessions in the workspace. All files and data within the workspace are erased. Before you delete the workspace, download any files that you want to keep.
To delete your Cloud Shell workspace, complete the following steps:
- Download any files that you want to keep.
- From your Cloud Shell workspace, click the Actions icon
, and then select Delete. - In the confirmation window, click Delete. A blank page is displayed.
- Click the Add icon
to open a new Cloud Shell session. This action also creates a new Cloud Shell workspace.
Working with sessions
A Cloud Shell session is the terminal interface where you can run commands, scripts, and other tools. It's similar to the command prompt on your local machine, but it's preconfigured with the full IBM Cloud CLI and numerous plug-ins and tools so that you can work in IBM Cloud without having to install anything. For more information about the CLI, see Getting started with the IBM Cloud CLI.
When you open a session, you start in your Cloud Shell workspace's home directory, /home/<user-name>. Your home directory provides a temporary place for you to work with files in Cloud Shell. It is shared between all of your
sessions. Because data in your home directory isn't persisted, any files that you add or change are removed after two hours of inactivity. For more information about your Cloud Shell workspace and home directory, see Working with files.
Opening sessions
To open a new session, click the Open icon . You can have up to five sessions open at one time. Each session maintains separate command histories, which are removed when you close the
session. Because the workspace storage is shared between sessions, you can save a file to your home directory in one session, and then open the file in another session.
Each session automatically closes if it's not used for an hour. If you don't use Cloud Shell for two hours - that is, another hour after the last session is closed - all files and data in your Cloud Shell workspace are erased. If you need to step away from Cloud Shell, be sure to download any files that you want to keep. For more information, see Working with files.
Switching accounts
When you open a session, you're logged in with the IBM Cloud CLI targeting the account and region that you were in when you opened Cloud Shell. This account and region are the default for every session.
To switch the default account for your sessions, close Cloud Shell, switch to a different account in the IBM Cloud console menu bar, and then reopen Cloud Shell.
Because you have separate workspaces for each account, your session history and temporary file storage are also separate. This means that when you switch accounts, you see different session tabs and don't have access to any files that you were working with in the previous account.
Changing locations
Cloud Shell runs in the Dallas (us-south) and Frankfurt (eu-de) regions. Each Cloud Shell location operates independently, which means that your workspace storage, sessions, and usage are separate. When you work in
Cloud Shell, the location that you're in determines the following aspects:
- Where your workspace data is stored, including any files that you upload and your user data, such as your session history and usage quota
- The default region that's targeted by the IBM Cloud CLI:
us-southoreu-de
By default, the location that's closest to you geographically is selected when you open Cloud Shell from the console. For example, if you're in California then Cloud Shell opens to the Dallas region, but if you're in Paris it opens to the Frankfurt region.
To change to Cloud Shell in a different location, find the current location in the Cloud Shell menu bar, and click Change. Select the location that you want to switch to, and click OK.
If you change from the default location, Cloud Shell remembers your location preferences by saving them as cookies in your browser. If you switch to a different browser, clear your browser cookies, or your cookie preferences don't allow personalization cookies, Cloud Shell opens in the default location.
Restarting Cloud Shell
When you restart Cloud Shell, any open sessions are closed and all of your files and data are removed. Before you restart, be sure that you download any files that you want to keep to your local system.
To restart, click the Menu icon , and select Restart.
Tracking your usage
You can use Cloud Shell for up to 50 hours within a week per region. Anytime that you have at least one open session counts toward this usage quota, even if you aren't actively running commands. For example, if you're working in Cloud Shell for 15 minutes and then leave your session open for a 30-minute lunch break, those 45 minutes are counted as usage. If you have three sessions open at the same time over an hour period, your usage is one hour because concurrent sessions don't count as additional usage. To minimize your usage, be sure to close sessions after you're done using them.
If you use all of your quota, your Cloud Shell sessions are closed. Closing Cloud Shell removes any data in your workspace, including your files and command history.
When you reach your usage quota, you get a notification that Cloud Shell will close in 5 minutes. Use this time to complete any urgent tasks.
At any point, you can track your usage and check when your weekly quota resets. In the Cloud Shell menu bar, click the Menu icon , and select Usage quota. You can
view how many hours you used Cloud Shell during the current weekly period and the day and time when it resets.
The time that you used of the 50-hour usage quota resets back to 0 at the same time each week. Even after you used all of your quota, you can still use IBM Cloud Shell for up to 5 minutes at a time to complete quick tasks, such as to run a few simple commands.
IBM Cloud Shell is intended for IBM Cloud administration and development purposes. Any usage outside of these guidelines might result in your access to IBM Cloud Shell or IBM Cloud being suspended. Because Cloud Shell is intended for interactive purposes only, long-running processes are stopped. For more information, see the IBM Cloud Terms and Notices.
Changing your cookie preferences
In Cloud Shell, browser cookies are used to provide a secure login and remember some preferences, such as if you change the default location. Additional cookies are used to build a more personalized experience for you and provide better support.
Cloud Shell uses the cookie preferences from the IBM Cloud console. If you change your cookie settings from the IBM standard default, your Cloud Shell location preferences aren't saved, and you might not be able to use some IBM Cloud console features.
To change your IBM Cloud cookie preferences from within Cloud Shell, click the Menu icon , and select Privacy. For more information, see Changing your cookie settings.