Dev Containers!

Two years ago I wrote about my containment strategy to keep a macOS install clean. For this I built a docker sandbox container with all the build tools I use. This kinda worked but it wasn’t perfect. One issue I kept running into was having to install node_modules both locally and inside the container. Mounting files around that was a pain.

Now I’ve found the solution: Development Containers!

Actually this has been on my “to look at” list for months. It’s a long list…

This is a Microsoft lead project with first class VS Code integration. Dev containers allow you to mount an entire workspace inside a container. Meaning that VS Code services and extensions are running right alongside the build tools.

Figuring it out

I don’t learn well by reading documentation and I dread watching YouTube tutorials. I have to get my hands dirty and bang rocks together.

I’ve taken my sandbox image and rebased it on Microsoft’s base dev container. I’ve moved the preinstalled build tools to independent “feature packages”. For individual projects I can customise devcontainer.json.

Like my website project for example:

{
  "image": "ghcr.io/dbushell/docker-ubuntu/base",
  "features": {
    "ghcr.io/dbushell/docker-ubuntu/deno:latest": {
      "version": "1.34.0"
    }
  },
  "customizations": {
    "vscode": {
      "extensions": ["GitHub.copilot", "denoland.vscode-deno"]
    }
  }
}

This is a great way to customise the exact tools and extensions I need.

Rolling my own packages is an exercise in understanding how stuff works. In practice I’d use the “official” packages especially when collaborating with a team. As experiments go this is surprisingly fun despite how dull the documentation looks.

If you’re curious you can follow my progress on GitHub. I wouldn’t recommend using my images though as they’re likely to change and break.

It’s only been a few days but I think VS Code dev containers are neat 👍