Using a Workshop Session

You’re here to use a workshop — an RStudio or JupyterLab environment that someone set up for a course or conference. Orchestra runs it for you in the cloud; there’s nothing to install.

Launch and connect

Open the Orchestra dashboard (your instructor will give you the link) and sign in with a Google account. Any Google account works — a personal Gmail address or an institutional account backed by Google.
Pick a workshop from the catalog and choose Launch. It takes a moment to start — the status moves from Pending to Starting to Ready.
When it’s Ready, choose Open (or Connect) to enter your session in a new tab.

Your session is temporary

Every session has a time limit, shown as a countdown on its card. This keeps the cluster available for everyone — but it means:

Get more time

If you’re running low, use +1h on the session card to extend it. You’ll see a warning as the deadline approaches, and again when it’s close.

Finished early?

When you’re done, choose Terminate on the session card in the dashboard to end the session and free up resources. If you’d rather not, that’s fine too — just close the tab and the session will clean itself up when the timer runs out. Either way, save your work first.

Something went wrong?

Stuck on Starting for a while — some images are large and take a few minutes on first launch. If it never reaches Ready, tell your instructor.
Session disappeared — it likely expired. Launch a fresh one; remember to save your work this time.
Can’t open it — your workshop may still be starting, or the session ended. Check the status on the dashboard.