Creating a workspace
A data project in Workspace is called a workspace: a collection of source, data, and configuration files. A workspace typically contains at least one notebook, but can also contain no or multiple notebooks.

From here on, you can start adding cells to an empty notebook in your workspace, bring in your own datasets, import previous work or start from a template or dataset.

Ways to start in an empty workspace
DataCamp provides a wide range of templates that contain pre-written code to solve common data science tasks, going from simple things like merging two data frames, all the way up to larger problems such as training a decision tree classifier for making predictions.
To create a workspace from a DataCamp template, click on the Template button in an empty workspace.
- A dialog will appear, allowing you to select a template of choice from the list.
- Upon making your selection, you will see a preview of your chosen template. You can either accept this preview by clicking Create workspace, or go back to the list by clicking the arrow in the top-left corner.
Alternatively, you can create a workspace from a template directly from your dashboard:
- 1.
- 2.Select a template you're interested in. A dialog box displays. It provides an preview of the selected template, possible choice of language (Python or R), and an overview of Publications that other Workspace users created with this template.
- 3.Click on Create workspace. A new workspace opens up with the data and all of the template's content loaded so you can continue working on it: you can hook up your own dataset, you can tweak the template's content, you can add more steps to the analysis; anything goes!
In addition to templates, DataCamp provides a rich and growing collection of datasets to analyze; the workspace you create through this way will contain the necessary data files with some sample code to import and it and a brief description so you can dive in immediately.
To create a workspace from a DataCamp dataset, you can click on the Dataset button in an empty workspace.
- A dialog will appear, allowing you to select a dataset of choice from the list
- Upon making your selection, you will see a preview of your chosen dataset. You can either accept this preview by clicking Create workspace, or go back to the list by clicking the arrow in the top-left corner.
Alternatively, you can create a workspace from a dataset directly from your dashboard:
- From the Workspace dashboard, navigate to the Datasets page from the sidebar.
- Select a dataset you're interested in. A dialog box displays. It provides a preview of the selected dataset including a data dictionary and a link to the dataset source, possible choice of language (Python or R), and an overview of publications that other Workspace users created with this dataset.
- Click on Create workspace. A new workspace opens up with the data and a basic notebook pre-configured so you can start your analysis.
Lots of interesting analyses live in GitHub repositories. DataCamp Workspace allows you to easily create a new DataCamp Workspace from any public GitHub repository.
- 1.
- 2.Click on the Import from GitHub button in the new blank workspace.
- 3.Enter the URL or repository name in the modal that appears.
- 4.A new workspace opens up that includes all the files from the specified repository.
Finally, you can also create a new workspace by making a copy of an already existing workspace that you own or that you have view access to:
- 1.In the workspace you want to copy, open the File menu and select Make a Copy:
- 2.In the modal that appears specify the title for the new workspace (optional), in which account you would like to create this workspace, whether the new workspace should be private or public, and click Make a Copy.Copy workspace modal
- 3.A new workspace will be created that contains all the files and folders that are stored in the home directory of the original workspace.
Note that in step 1, you can also click Create Copy Link to create a reusable URL to create a new workspace, duplicating the original workspace. You can use this URL to send over to peers so they can easily create a copy of your workspace. This can be useful in an education context, as described in Workspace for Education.
- You land in a new, empty workspace, ready to start working.
By default, all workspaces you create will live under your personal account. You can see this by checking the account selector in the workspace sidebar:

Account selector on the Workspace dashboard.
Workspaces that live in your personal account, or personal workspaces:
- Can be made public to anyone with the link to your workspace (you can choose to disable this).
- Can use environment variables and database connections that are configured in your personal account.
If you are a member of one or more DataCamp groups, you can also create workspaces inside these group spaces. To create a group workspace, click the account selector dropdown and select a group. These group workspaces:
- Can easily be shared with all members in your group (rather than having to share with every group member individually).
- Cannot be shared with members that are not in your group.
Last modified 1mo ago