This repository provides a lean development container template for GitHub Codespaces and local VS Code Dev Containers.

• Ubuntu 24.04 base image
• Single-image devcontainer build based on .devcontainer/Dockerfile
• Core tooling for general development work:
  • Python 3 with venv and pip
  • Node.js LTS with npm
  • Docker-in-Docker with Docker Compose v2
  • GitHub CLI
  • Claude Code CLI installed in postCreateCommand
  • Zsh and common shell utilities
  • Build essentials (gcc, make, and related packages)
  • SSH daemon support via the devcontainer feature
• VS Code extensions:
  • Anthropic Claude Code
  • Python and Pylance
  • Docker
  • GitHub Copilot and Copilot Chat
  • YAML

The devcontainer balances speed with operability:

• Keeps the image focused on core development tooling
• Avoids full package upgrades during image build to reduce rebuild time
• Uses the devcontainer feature set for Node.js, Git, Docker, GitHub CLI, and SSH
• Uses Ubuntu's packaged Python runtime for a faster base setup
• Installs Claude Code CLI in postCreateCommand instead of baking it into the image
• Limits editor customizations to a small, broadly useful extension set

Estimated startup time: 2-3 minutes, depending on feature downloads and network speed.

1. Click "Code" button on the GitHub repository
2. Select "Create codespace on main"
3. Wait for the environment to build

1. Clone this repository
2. Open in VS Code
3. Click "Reopen in Container" when prompted

• .devcontainer/devcontainer.json: main devcontainer definition, features, VS Code extensions, and post-create validation command
• .devcontainer/Dockerfile: minimal image customization for extra packages
• .github/workflows/ci.yml: CI checks for Dockerfile linting, secret scanning, image build, and devcontainer smoke testing

Click "Use this template" button to create a new repository

cp -r .devcontainer /path/to/your/project/

Edit .devcontainer/devcontainer.json to add features or tools:

{
  "features": {
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/java:1": {
      "version": "17"
    }
  },
  "postCreateCommand": "pip install -r requirements.txt"
}

To add heavier tooling when you actually need it:

{
  "features": {
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/kubectl-helm-minikube:1": {
      "version": "latest",
      "helm": "latest",
      "minikube": "none"
    }
  }
}

If you add new features or packages, keep the CI workflow in sync with any new tooling expectations you want validated during the container smoke test.

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.