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Remote Development

If you want to start your work full-featured and isolated, then you can read through this documentation to set up a remote developing environment inside a Docker Container with the VSCode.

Getting Started​

System requirements​

Local / Remote Host:

  • Windows: Docker Desktop 2.0+ on Windows 10 Pro/Enterprise. Windows 10 Home (2004+) requires Docker Desktop 2.3+ and the WSL 2 back-end. (Docker Toolbox is not supported. Windows container images are not supported.)

  • macOS: Docker Desktop 2.0+.

  • Linux: Docker CE/EE 18.06+ and Docker Compose 1.21+. (The Ubuntu snap package is not supported.)

  • Remote hosts: 1 GB RAM is required, but at least 2 GB RAM and a 2-core CPU is recommended.

Other Docker compliant CLIs may work, but are not officially supported. Note that attaching to a Kubernetes cluster only requires a properly configured kubectl CLI.

Containers:

  • x86_64 / ARMv7l (AArch32) / ARMv8l (AArch64) Debian 9+, Ubuntu 16.04+, CentOS / RHEL 7+

  • x86_64 Alpine Linux 3.9+

Installation​

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This section will guide how to setup on Ubuntu with Docker Desktop.

  1. Install and configure Docker for your operating system:

    a. Linux:

    Install using the repository:

    Before you install Docker Engine for the first time on a new host machine, you need to set up the Docker repository. Afterward, you can install and update Docker from the repository

    Set up the repository:

    Update the apt package index and install packages to allow apt to use a repository over HTTPS:

     $ sudo apt-get update

     $ sudo apt-get install \
     ca-certificates \
     curl \
     gnupg \
     lsb-release

    Add Docker’s official GPG key:

     $ sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
     $ curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

    Use the following command to set up the repository:

    $ echo \
    "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
    $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

    Install Docker Engine:

    Update the apt package index, and install the latest version of Docker Engine, containerd, and Docker Compose, or go to the next step to install a specific version:

    $ sudo apt-get update
    $ sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-compose-plugin
Install Docker Desktop

Stop the Docker Engine service:

sudo systemctl stop docker docker.socket containerd
info

We generally recommend stopping the Docker Engine while you’re using Docker Desktop to prevent the Docker Engine from consuming resources and to prevent conflicts.

On Ubuntu, the Docker Engine may be configured to automatically start as a system service when your machine starts. Use the following command to disable the Docker Engine service, and to prevent it from starting automatically:

sudo systemctl disable docker docker.socket containerd

Download Docker Desktop:

You can go to page Docker Desktop release notes to download the latest Linux DEB package.

Then install the package:

sudo apt install -y docker-desktop-4.12.0-amd64.deb

  1. Install Visual Studio Code or Visual Studio Code Insiders.

  2. Install the Remote Development extension pack, or install only Dev Containers extension if you don’t want to install both Remote-SSH and WSL extensions.

Working with Containers​

The Remote-Containers extension supports two primary operating models:

About .devcontainer.json file​

In your repository, there is a directory .devcontainer/devcontainer.json to configure VSCode’s container.

Example:

{
  "name": "my-project-devcontainer",
  "image": "mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/base:ubuntu", // Any generic, debian-based image.
  // 5173 port for Vite
  "forwardPorts": [5173],
  "features": {
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/git:1": {
      "version": "latest"
    },
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/python:1": {
      "version": "3.9"
    },
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/node:1": {
      "version": "lts"
    }
  },
  "postCreateCommand": "curl -sSL https://install.python-poetry.org | python3 -",
  "customizations": {
    // Configure properties specific to VS Code.
    "vscode": {
      "settings": {},
      // Add the IDs of extensions you want installed when the container is created.
      "extensions": [
        "nrwl.angular-console",
        "editorconfig.editorconfig",
        "ms-python.vscode-pylance",
        "ms-python.python",
        "formulahendry.auto-rename-tag",
        "ms-playwright.playwright",
        "esbenp.prettier-vscode",
        "stkb.rewrap",
        "zixuanchen.vitest-explorer",
        "voorjaar.windicss-intellisense",
        "eamodio.gitlens",
        "dbaeumer.vscode-eslint",
        "usernamehw.errorlens",
        "mikestead.dotenv",
        "naumovs.color-highlight",
        "streetsidesoftware.code-spell-checker"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Brief explanation:

  • image: Base image to build container, this can be any generic or Debian-based image.

  • forwardPorts: An array of port numbers or "host:port" values (e.g. [3000, "db:5432"]) that should always be forwarded from inside the primary container to the local machine (including on the web).

  • features: Self-contained, shareable units of installation code and development container configuration. This is already configured to provide all the necessary packages so you can run without any errors.

  • postCreateCommand: This command is the last of three that finalizes container setup when a dev container is created. It happens after updateContentCommand and once the dev container has been assigned to a user for the first time. This can be used to install other packages that don’t have pre-built features.

  • customizations: Add custom settings (like system-wide settings) or pre-install extensions to the development container. Because we already configure settings in file .vscode/settings.json (workspace settings), we won’t configure much in the settings field.

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The extensions field will install extensions within the container, not like in file .vscode/extensions.json, which only recommend.