Create a minimal devcontainer.json using a prebuilt base image plus Dev Container Features (ghcr.io/devcontainers/features) to add tools without a custom Dockerfile

domain: containers.dev/implementors/json_reference · 7 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗

Documented steps

  1. Create .devcontainer/devcontainer.json with a base image: {"image": "mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/python:3.11"}
  2. Add a features object: {"features": {"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/node:2": {}, "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/github-cli:1": {}}}
  3. Pass feature-specific options inside each feature's object (check the feature's README for parameters), e.g. {"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/node:2": {"version": "20"}}
  4. Reference format is ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/<name>:<major-version>; pin only the major version so you get non-breaking updates
  5. Optionally control install order with overrideFeatureInstallOrder; otherwise order is derived from each feature's installsAfter metadata
  6. Rebuild/reopen the container; Features are installed on top of the image before lifecycle commands run
  7. Docs: https://containers.dev/implementors/json_reference/ | https://containers.dev/features

Known gotchas

Related routes

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