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IMPORTANT NOTE: Dev containers have a new, expanded home in the dev containers GitHub org! We're so excited to connect with you there. To learn more, you can check out our migration announcement.

This repository is no longer active and was archived in November 2023. We've migrated most of the contents of this repo to the devcontainers GitHub org, as part of the work on the open Dev Container specification.

Features managed by the Dev Container spec maintainers (such as the VS Code team) are now in devcontainers/features.
Definitions/Templates managed by the Dev Container spec maintainers are now in devcontainers/templates.
mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers and mcr.microsoft.com/vscode/devcontainers images are now published from devcontainers/images.

For new Templates/Features, you can now self-publish and optionally make them visible in-tool by following the steps one of the quick start repositories: Templates quick start, Features quick start. No need to submit a PR here anymore.

For more details, you can review the announcement issue and latest archiving announcement.

[Deprecated] VS Code / GitHub Codespaces Dev Container Definitions

Visual Studio Code Dev Containers and GitHub Codespaces
Open your code in the cloud, in a local container, on a remote machine, or in WSL and take advantage of VS Code's full feature set.

IMPORTANT NOTE: As noted in the section above, this repository is no longer active and will be archived in November 2023.

A development container is a running Docker container with a well-defined tool/runtime stack and its prerequisites. The VS Code Dev Containers extension and GitHub Codespaces allow you to open or clone code in a local or cloud-hosted Dev Container and take advantage of VS Code's full development feature set.

This repository contains a set of Dev Container definition templates to help get you up and running with a containerized environment. The definitions describe the appropriate container image, runtime arguments for starting the container, and VS Code extensions that should be installed. Each provides a container configuration file (devcontainer.json) and other needed files that you can drop into any existing folder as a starting point for containerizing your project. You can use the Add Development Container Configuration Files... command to add one to your project or codespace.

The vscode-remote-try-* repositories may also be of interest if you are looking for complete sample projects.

Adding a definition to a project or codespace

Either create a codespace for your repository or set up your local machine for use with the Dev Containers extension, start VS Code, and open your project folder.
Press F1, and select the Add Development Container Configuration Files... command for Dev Containers or Codespaces.
Pick one of the recommended definitions from the list or select Show All Definitions... to see all of them. You may need to choose the From a predefined container configuration definition... option if your project has an existing Dockerfile or Docker Compose file. Answer any questions that appear.
See the definition's README for configuration options. A link is available in the .devcontainer/devcontainer.json file added to your folder.
Run Remote-Containers: Reopen in Container to use it locally, or Codespaces: Rebuild Container from within a codespace.

Adding a definition to a repository

You can share a customized Dev Container definitions for your project by adding the files under .devcontainer to source control.

Anyone who then opens a local copy of your repo in VS Code will be prompted to reopen the folder in a container, provided they have the Dev Containers extension installed. Additionally, this will be used whenever someone creates a codespace in GitHub Codespaces for the repository.

Your team now has a consistent environment and tool-chain and new contributors or team members can be productive quickly. First-time contributors will require less guidance and there will be fewer issues related to environment setup.

Sample projects

If you want to try a sample project which already has a Dev Container, check out one of the following repositories:

containers - Contains reusable Dev Container definitions.
script-library - Includes scripts used in this repository to install things. Also useful in your own Dockerfiles.
container-templates - Contains templates for creating your own container definitions or to contribute back.

Common Questions

Can I just reuse an existing container image or Docker / Docker Compose configuration?

Yes! If you have a Dockerfile or Docker Compose file in your project/repository, follow the same steps to add a definition and you'll be prompted to select a Dockerfile or Docker Compose file and customize from there. If you then commit these files to a Git repository, you can use it with GitHub Codespaces as well. If you prefer, you can also start up the container manually and attach to it. However, note that many images will be missing things like git that you will want to use. There are scripts in the script-library like the common script that can help adding these to your existing Dockerfile or image.

What is the goal of `devcontainer.json`?

A devcontainer.json file is similar to launch.json for debugging, but designed to launch (or attach to) a development container instead. At its simplest, all you need is a .devcontainer/devcontainer.json file in your project that references an image, Dockerfile, or docker-compose.yml, and a few properties. You can adapt it for use in a wide variety of situations.

Contributing and feedback

Have a question or feedback?

We've migrated most of the contents of this repo to the devcontainers GitHub org, as part of the work on the open Dev Container specification.

Features managed by the Dev Container spec maintainers are now in devcontainers/features.
Definitions/Templates managed by the Dev Container spec maintainers are now in devcontainers/templates.
mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers and mcr.microsoft.com/vscode/devcontainers images are now published from devcontainers/images.

As a result, this repository only used for community definitions that have not been migrated elsewhere by their owners. If you are a community owner and want us to remove an existing definition here, feel free to submit a PR to do so!

For new Templates/Features, you can now self-publish and optionally make them visible in-tool by following the steps one of the quick start repositories: Templates quick start, Features quick start.

You can also:

Provide feedback for the VS Code Dev Containers extension or GitHub Codespaces.
Discuss the Dev Container spec or join the Slack channel
Make proposals for improvments to the Dev Container spec repository.
Contribute to the Dev Container CLI.

This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. For more information see the Code of Conduct FAQ or contact opencode@microsoft.com with any additional questions or comments.

License

For images generated from this repository, see LICENSE and NOTICE.txt.

License

microsoft/vscode-dev-containers

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