Welcome to the World of Dev Containers!

Are you looking to streamline your development process and boost productivity? Look no further than dev containers. By incorporating dev containers into your standard toolchain, you can create a repository of features that can easily be added to your container definitions. Whether you want to customize existing containers or build a new definition from scratch for a new project, dev containers allow you to treat features as building blocks on top of a standard base container defined for a specific stack.

Using dev containers

The process of building a dev container is straightforward and efficient. Adopt a top-down approach by starting with architects and dev leads agreeing on a project stack. Next, select a base platform image, such as .Net, from the VS Code container gallery. Customize it for your project by editing the devcontainer.json in VS Code and adding predefined features. Once your container is ready, deploy it and the necessary VS Code tools to your development team.

For your local container host to run dev containers smoothly, Docker or a Docker-compliant CLI should be in place. The use of the CLI is advantageous, as dev containers utilize it, eliminating the need for direct access to your container host. This flexibility, however, can be a double-edged sword. While there is no dependency on APIs or Docker itself, compatibility issues may arise with alternative container engines like Podman, which only support a subset of the Docker CLI. Rest assured, efforts are underway to extend support for other container engines, and contributions are welcome on GitHub.

Explore the world of dev containers and revolutionize your development workflow today! Start building, customizing, and deploying containers seamlessly for your projects. Embrace the power of dev containers to take your development process to the next level.