VS Code

Prerequisites

1. VS Code
2. Dev Containers extension (ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers)
3. Docker or Podman running on your machine (see Getting Started). VS Code Dev Containers also supports Podman as a backend.

Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/f5xc-salesdemos/devcontainer.git
code devcontainer

VS Code detects .devcontainer/devcontainer.json and shows a notification: “Reopen in Container”. Click it, or use the command palette:

Dev Containers: Reopen in Container

VS Code builds (or pulls) the image, starts the container, installs extensions, and opens a terminal inside the container.

How It Works

The .devcontainer/devcontainer.json file tells VS Code to use Docker Compose:

"dockerComposeFile": ["../docker-compose.yml", "../docker-compose.build.yml"],
"service": "dev",
"workspaceFolder": "/workspace"

The devcontainer config explicitly includes the build file, so VS Code can build the image locally when you use “Reopen in Container” or “Rebuild Container”.

Extensions

Extensions are installed automatically inside the container:

Extension	Description
Python	Python language support
ESLint	JavaScript/TypeScript linting
Prettier	Code formatting
Docker	Dockerfile and compose support
Terraform	HCL language support
Go	Go language support
Rust Analyzer	Rust language support
YAML	YAML language support
Kubernetes	Kubernetes manifest support

To add extensions, edit the customizations.vscode.extensions array in .devcontainer/devcontainer.json.

Port Forwarding

VS Code automatically forwards ports defined in the compose file. The noVNC display is available at http://localhost:6080/vnc.html — VS Code will notify you when the port is ready.

Additional ports can be forwarded on-demand from the Ports panel in VS Code.

Devcontainer CLI Alternative

If you prefer the command line over the VS Code UI:

npm install -g @devcontainers/cli

devcontainer up --workspace-folder .
devcontainer exec --workspace-folder . zsh

Rebuilding

After changing the Dockerfile or compose files:

Dev Containers: Rebuild Container

This rebuilds the image and restarts the container. Named volumes (workspace, home) persist across rebuilds.