diff --git a/components/gitpod-protocol/src/typings/globals.ts b/components/gitpod-protocol/src/typings/globals.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..e4e1e1767fffde
--- /dev/null
+++ b/components/gitpod-protocol/src/typings/globals.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) 2020 TypeFox GmbH. All rights reserved.
+ * Licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL).
+ * See License-AGPL.txt in the project root for license information.
+ */
+
+interface Window {
+    gitpod: {
+        service: import('../gitpod-service').GitpodService
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/components/supervisor/frontend/src/globals.d.ts b/components/supervisor/frontend/src/globals.d.ts
index 352c82029f1fa0..0a5451ec2690f8 100644
--- a/components/supervisor/frontend/src/globals.d.ts
+++ b/components/supervisor/frontend/src/globals.d.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
  * See License-AGPL.txt in the project root for license information.
  */
 
+/// <reference types='@gitpod/gitpod-protocol/lib/typings/globals'/>
+
 /**
 * API specified by https://wicg.github.io/keyboard-map/
 */
@@ -13,4 +15,4 @@ interface Navigator {
 interface Keyboard {
     getLayoutMap?(): Promise<Map<string, string>>;
     addEventListener?(type: 'layoutchange', listener: EventListenerOrEventListenerObject): void;
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/components/supervisor/frontend/src/index.ts b/components/supervisor/frontend/src/index.ts
index 032bf40d78b4c7..b305aefb91c89f 100644
--- a/components/supervisor/frontend/src/index.ts
+++ b/components/supervisor/frontend/src/index.ts
@@ -11,14 +11,18 @@ import { createGitpodService } from "@gitpod/gitpod-protocol";
 import { GitpodHostUrl } from "@gitpod/gitpod-protocol/lib/util/gitpod-host-url";
 
 const workspaceUrl = new GitpodHostUrl(window.location.href);
+window.gitpod = {
+    service: createGitpodService(workspaceUrl.withoutWorkspacePrefix().toString())
+};
 const { workspaceId } = workspaceUrl;
-if (workspaceId) {
-    const gitpodService = createGitpodService(workspaceUrl.withoutWorkspacePrefix().toString());
-    gitpodService.server.getWorkspace(workspaceId).then(info => {
+const workspaceInfo = workspaceId ? window.gitpod.service.server.getWorkspace(workspaceId) : undefined;
+if (!workspaceId) {
+    document.title += ': Unknown workspace';
+    console.error(`Failed to extract a workspace id from '${window.location.href}'.`)
+} else if (workspaceInfo) {
+    workspaceInfo.then(info => {
         document.title = info.workspace.description;
     });
-} else {
-    document.title += ': Unknown workspace';
 }
 
 const checkReady: (kind: 'content' | 'ide') => Promise<void> = kind =>
@@ -59,6 +63,9 @@ Promise.all([onDOMContentLoaded, checkReady('ide'), checkReady('content')]).then
     ideFrame.onload = () => loadingFrame.remove();
     document.body.appendChild(ideFrame);
     ideFrame.contentWindow?.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', () => {
+        if (ideFrame.contentWindow) {
+            ideFrame.contentWindow.gitpod = window.gitpod;
+        }
         if (navigator.keyboard?.getLayoutMap && ideFrame.contentWindow?.navigator.keyboard?.getLayoutMap) {
             ideFrame.contentWindow.navigator.keyboard.getLayoutMap = navigator.keyboard.getLayoutMap.bind(navigator.keyboard);
         }
diff --git a/components/theia/packages/gitpod-extension/src/browser/utils.ts b/components/theia/packages/gitpod-extension/src/browser/utils.ts
index dbe11bede02f07..8e97ab3a4c9a41 100644
--- a/components/theia/packages/gitpod-extension/src/browser/utils.ts
+++ b/components/theia/packages/gitpod-extension/src/browser/utils.ts
@@ -4,17 +4,13 @@
  * See License-AGPL.txt in the project root for license information.
  */
 
-import { createGitpodService } from "@gitpod/gitpod-protocol";
+/// <reference types='@gitpod/gitpod-protocol/lib/typings/globals'/>
+
 import { GitpodService } from "@gitpod/gitpod-protocol";
-import { GitpodHostUrl, workspaceIDRegex } from "@gitpod/gitpod-protocol/lib/util/gitpod-host-url";
+import { workspaceIDRegex } from "@gitpod/gitpod-protocol/lib/util/gitpod-host-url";
 
 export function getGitpodService(): GitpodService {
-    if (!(window as any)['_gitpodService']) {
-        const serverUrl = new GitpodHostUrl(window.location.href).withoutWorkspacePrefix().toString();
-        const service = createGitpodService(serverUrl);
-        (window as any)['_gitpodService'] = service;
-    }
-    return (window as any)['_gitpodService'];
+    return window.gitpod.service;
 }
 
 export function getWorkspaceID() {