features VS templates

Dev Containers not only allow you to define which extensions should be installed and which configuration settings shall be set, but they also have something they call "Dev Container Features".

json { "name": "Ubuntu", // Or use a Dockerfile or Docker Compose file. More info: https://containers.dev/guide/dockerfile "image": "mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/base:ubuntu", "features": { "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/terraform": "latest", "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/powershell": "latest", "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/azure-cli": "latest" }, // Features to add to the dev container. More info: https://containers.dev/features. // "features": {}, // Use 'forwardPorts' to make a list of ports inside the container available locally. // "forwardPorts": [], // Use 'postCreateCommand' to run commands after the container is created. // "postStartCommand": "uname -a", // "postCreateCommand": "sudo apt update; sudo apt upgrade -y;", "postAttachCommand": { "git-safe-directory": "git config --global --add safe.directory ${containerWorkspaceFolder}", "ansible_cfg_permissions": "sudo chmod o-w ${containerWorkspaceFolder}" }, "postCreateCommand": { "python": "sudo apt update; sudo apt upgrade -y; sudo apt install -y python3-pip postgresql-client; sudo python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip; pip3 install ansible python-hcl2 psycopg2-binary; ansible-galaxy collection install azure.azcollection", "populate-history": "echo 'ansible-playbook ansible/playbooks/netbox.yml' >> ~/.bash_history; echo 'terraform apply' >> ~/.bash_history; echo 'az login' >> ~/.bash_history" }, // Configure tool-specific properties. // "customizations": {}, // Uncomment to connect as root instead. More info: https://aka.ms/dev-containers-non-root. // "remoteUser": "root" "customizations": { "vscode": { "extensions": [ "GitHub.copilot", "GitHub.copilot-labs", "GitHub.vscode-pull-request-github", "redhat.ansible", "hashicorp.terraform", "ms-toolsai.jupyter", "ms-vscode.powershell", "HashiCorp.terraform", "eamodio.gitlens", "GitHub.copilot-chat" ] } } }

there are already built docker images for common development environment. You can either use one of them, or build one from Docker file. Using a pre-built dev container doesn't mean you are only limited to that image, because you can still add other tools, which they are called features to that image. For a list of the pre-built templates check here, and for the other features that you can add check this. You don't need a Docker file, unless you want to build your dev environment step by step.

// For format details, see https://aka.ms/devcontainer.json. For config options, see the // README at: https://github.com/devcontainers/templates/tree/main/src/python { "name": "Python 3", "image": "mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/python:0-3.11", "features": { "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/python:1": {} } // Features to add to the dev container. More info: https://containers.dev/features. // "features": {}, // Use 'forwardPorts' to make a list of ports inside the container available locally. // "forwardPorts": [], // Use 'postCreateCommand' to run commands after the container is created. // "postCreateCommand": "pip3 install --user -r requirements.txt", // Configure tool-specific properties. // "customizations": {}, // Uncomment to connect as root instead. More info: https://aka.ms/dev-containers-non-root. // "remoteUser": "root" }

This is actually very easy. I've implemented a number of tools like this publicly but the standard doesn't limit you to public stuff. I can't emphasize enough the amount of speed we gained when we implemented this standard. https://containers.dev/features

features: While you can add everything in Dockerfile for the build, there are already pre-configured features you can optionally add. You can find the complete list of the features at here. Some examples of those features are common utilities and tools like Azure CLI, GitHub CLI and Terraform, and languages like node.js, Java, .NET, Python, etc.

// For format details, see https://aka.ms/devcontainer.json. For config options, see the // README at: https://github.com/devcontainers/templates/tree/main/src/python { "name": "Python 3", // Or use a Dockerfile or Docker Compose file. More info: https://containers.dev/guide/dockerfile "image": "mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/python:1-3.11-bullseye", "customizations": { "codespaces": { "openFiles": [ "README.md", "streamlit_app.py" ] }, "vscode": { "settings": {}, "extensions": [ "ms-python.python", "ms-python.vscode-pylance" ] } }, "updateContentCommand": "[ -f packages.txt ] && sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade && sudo xargs apt install -y

Ooo, they have one for rails + postgres!

https://github.com/devcontainers/templates/tree/main/src/rub...

// For format details, see https://aka.ms/devcontainer.json. For config options, see the // README at: https://github.com/devcontainers/templates/tree/main/src/python { "name": "Python 3", // Or use a Dockerfile or Docker Compose file. More info: https://containers.dev/guide/dockerfile "image": "mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/python:0-3.11-bullseye", "features": { "ghcr.io/devcontainers-contrib/features/coverage-py:2": {} } // Features to add to the dev container. More info: https://containers.dev/features. // "features": {}, // Use 'forwardPorts' to make a list of ports inside the container available locally. "forwardPorts": [5003], // Use 'postCreateCommand' to run commands after the container is created. "postCreateCommand": "pip install -r requirements.txt", "postAttachCommand": ".devcontainer/addcodespacename.sh && python main.py", // Configure tool-specific properties. "customizations": { "codespaces": { "openFiles": [ ".well-known/ai-plugin.json", "openapi.yaml" ] } } } // Uncomment to connect as root instead. More info: https://aka.ms/dev-containers-non-root. // "remoteUser": "root" }

$ cd tracing_publisher $ mkdir .devcontainer $ cat > .devcontainer/devcontainer.json // For format details, see https://aka.ms/devcontainer.json. For config options, see the // README at: https://github.com/devcontainers/templates/tree/main/src/rust { "name": "Rust", "service": "rust-log-processing", "dockerComposeFile": "../docker-compose.yml", "features": { "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/rust:1": {} }, "workspaceFolder": "/workspaces/${localWorkspaceFolderBasename}", "shutdownAction": "stopCompose" }

Based on a previous blog post, this devcontainer is now publicly available as a template for anyone to use at Dev Container Templates and integrated with publicly available Codespace images.

When you start a Codespace for a project, it will try to use whatever Dev Container you have specified in your repo, else it will try to use a kitchen sink container. That default kitchen sink is can be way too much and so if you will be working with Conda environments with an Anaconda or Miniconda Dev Container template instead.

This example uses the Docker in Docker dev container. There are others that may suit you better, feel free to customize to your needs. This example doesn’t rely on the exact type of dev container used.

there are already built docker images for common development environment. You can either use one of them, or build one from Docker file. Using a pre-built dev container doesn't mean you are only limited to that image, because you can still add other tools, which they are called features to that image. For a list of the pre-built templates check here, and for the other features that you can add check this. You don't need a Docker file, unless you want to build your dev environment step by step.