---
name: watsonx-code-assistant-cloud-setup-wca
title: Setting up your watsonx Code Assistant service in IBM Cloud
description: Set up your service instance of watsonx Code Assistant.
last-updated: 2025-08-15
---

> ## Documentation Index
> The table of contents for this documentation set is at https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/watsonx-code-assistant?format=markdown
> The index for all IBM Cloud docs is at: https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use these files to discover more information as needed.

# Setting up your watsonx Code Assistant service in IBM Cloud
{: #cloud-setup-wca}

[watsonx Code Assistant]{: tag-blue}

Set up your service instance of watsonx Code Assistant.
{: shortdesc}

## Provision the service instance
{: #cloud-setup-wca-prereqs}

To get started, you need to create your own service instance of watsonx Code Assistant for you or your organization.

To provision a service instance:

1. Open the [IBM Cloud catalog](https://cloud.ibm.com/catalog/services/ibm-watsonx-code-assistant){: external}.

1. Use the catalog to provision a service instance of watsonx Code Assistant. 

   The service is available in these data centers:
   - Dallas (`us-south`)
   - Frankfurt (`eu-de`) 
   - Sydney (`au-syd`)
   
   For more information about data centers, see the IBM Cloud documentation for [Service and infrastructure availability by location](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/overview?topic=overview-services_region&format=markdown).

1. When you finish provisioning your instance, click **Setup** to open an onboarding checklist page to help you with configuration. Or, you can select **Administration**, and then **Setup** to access this onboarding checklist.

1. Items in the onboarding checklist correspond to each of the following steps. Click the action arrows on the checklist page that are associated with each item to complete the steps. 

   The setup steps are different depending on how you're going to use the service instance.

   | Type | Description |
   | --- | --- |
   | [Organizational users]{: tag-dark-teal} | Multiple developers |
   | [Single user]{: tag-teal} | One developer |
   {: caption="Installation types" caption-side="bottom"}

## Create an access group
{: #cloud-setup-wca-access-group}

[Organizational users]{: tag-dark-teal}

Create an access group where you can add your developers.

1. Open the **Access groups** page in [Cloud Identity and Access Management](https://cloud.ibm.com/iam/groups){: external}.

1. Click **Create**.

1. Enter a name for your access group, for example `wca-instance-access`, and then click **Create**.

1. In your new access group, click the **Access** tab.

1. Click **Assign access** to start a policy.

1. For **Service**, select **IBM watsonx Code Assistant**, then click **Next**.

1. For **Resources**, select **Specific resources**.

1. Select the resource group where you created your instance, then click **Next**.

1. For **Resource Group Access**, select **Viewer**, then click **Next**.

1. For **Roles and actions**, select **Viewer**.

1. **Conditions** aren't required, so click **Add**.

1. In the **Access summary**, click **Assign**.

## Create a deployment space
{: #cloud-setup-wca-deploy-space}

[Single user]{: tag-teal} [Organizational users]{: tag-dark-teal}

The deployment space is the serving environment for watsonx Code Assistant.

1. Open your watsonx Code Assistant service instance.

1. Click the **Navigation Menu** ![Navigation Menu](images/menu.svg) icon, then select **Deployments**.

1. Click **New deployment space**.

1. Enter `Code Assistant` as the name for your deployment space. Optionally, enter a description.

1. In **Code assistant service**, select your instance name.

   The following example displays the **Select services** page. For the **Code assistant service** option on the page, **Select a code assistant service** is expanded and the user is selecting the `IBM watsonx Code Assistant-9h` instance from the expanded list.

   ![Code assistant service](images/cloud-setup-wcaej-code-assistant-service.png){: caption="Code assistant service"}

1. Click **Create**.

1. A status window appears. After the space is created, click **Close**.

## Add the access group to the deployment space
{: #cloud-setup-wca-access-group-to-deployment}

[Organizational users]{: tag-dark-teal}

Add your new access group to the deployment space.

1. In your watsonx Code Assistant instance, click the **Navigation Menu** ![Navigation Menu](images/menu.svg) icon, then select **Deployments**.

1. Open the deployment space for your service instance.

1. On the **Manage** tab of your deployment space, click **Access control**.

1. Click **Add collaborators** and select **Add access groups** from the menu.

1. Select your new access group.

1. For **Role**, select **Editor**, then click **Add**.

## Select your license preferences for code suggestions
{: #cloud-setup-wca-licenses}

[Single user]{: tag-teal} [Organizational users]{: tag-dark-teal}

Watsonx Code Assistant checks whether a generated code suggestion is similar to other code sources. By default, the code suggestion includes a reference to the similar code source and its license. 

You can set how code suggestions are displayed in the IDE. For more information, see [Configuring how code suggestions are displayed](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/watsonx-code-assistant?topic=watsonx-code-assistant-cloud-setup-configurations&format=markdown).

## Add developers to your access group
{: #cloud-setup-wca-invite-users}

[Organizational users]{: tag-dark-teal}

Use Cloud Identity and Access Management to add developers to your access group.

1. Open the **Access groups** page in [Cloud Identity and Access Management](https://cloud.ibm.com/iam/groups){: external}.

1. Select the access group that you created.

1. On the **Users** tab, click **Add**.

1. Select the members of your IBM Cloud account who should get access to watsonx Code Assistant.

1. Click **Add**.

## Set up your network
{: #cloud-setup-wca-network-setup}

To ensure that your developers can connect the IDE extension or plug-in, you need to allow access to IBM Cloud URLs. Make sure your organization's network allows access to:

- `https://iam.cloud.ibm.com/`
- `https://api.dataplatform.cloud.ibm.com/`

If your organization uses an HTTP proxy server, your developers need to update their settings to connect correctly. For more information, see [Update HTTP proxy settings for Visual Studio Code](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/watsonx-code-assistant?topic=watsonx-code-assistant-cloud-setup-wca-vscode&format=markdown#cloud-setup-wca-vscode-http-proxy) or [Update HTTP proxy settings for Eclipse IDE](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/watsonx-code-assistant?topic=watsonx-code-assistant-cloud-setup-wca-eclipse&format=markdown#cloud-setup-wca-eclipse-http-proxy).
{: note}

## Instruct developers to add an IDE extension or plug-in
{: #cloud-setup-wca-install-extension}

[Organizational users]{: tag-dark-teal}

Developers need to add the watsonx Code Assistant Microsoft Visual Studio Code extension or the Eclipse IDE plug-in.

For the instructions, see [Installing the IDE extension or plug-in](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/watsonx-code-assistant?topic=watsonx-code-assistant-cloud-setup-wca-extensions&format=markdown).

Copy this link to send the instructions to your developers:

```html
https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/watsonx-code-assistant?topic=watsonx-code-assistant-cloud-setup-wca-extensions
```
{: codeblock}