/devcontainer

Devcontainer Features Catalog

Features are pre-packaged tools and runtimes that can be added to any devcontainer. They install on top of any base image, making configuration modular and reusable.

Official Features Repository: https://github.com/devcontainers/features

How to Use Features

{
  "features": {
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/node:1": {
      "version": "20"
    },
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/git:1": {}
  }
}

Core Development Tools

Git

Essential for most development workflows.

"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/git:1": {}

Options:

• version: Git version (default: "latest")
• ppa: Use PPA for latest version (default: true)

GitHub CLI

For GitHub operations from the command line.

"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/github-cli:1": {}

Options:

• version: CLI version (default: "latest")

Docker-in-Docker

Run Docker commands inside the devcontainer (for container development).

"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/docker-in-docker:2": {
  "version": "latest",
  "moby": true
}

Options:

• version: Docker version
• moby: Use Moby (open source Docker, default: true)
• dockerDashComposeVersion: Compose version

Note: May not work in all Codespaces configurations. Test thoroughly.

Docker-outside-of-Docker

Use host's Docker daemon (lighter than docker-in-docker).

"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/docker-outside-of-docker:1": {}

Languages & Runtimes

Node.js

"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/node:1": {
  "version": "20",
  "nodeGypDependencies": true
}

Options:

• version: Node version ("lts", "20", "18", etc.)
• nodeGypDependencies: Install build tools for native modules
• nvmVersion: NVM version to install

Python

"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/python:1": {
  "version": "3.11"
}

Options:

• version: Python version
• installTools: Install pip, pipx, etc. (default: true)
• optimize: Optimize Python installation (default: false)

Go

"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/go:1": {
  "version": "1.21"
}

Options:

• version: Go version

Rust

"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/rust:1": {
  "version": "latest",
  "profile": "default"
}

Options:

• version: Rust version
• profile: Rustup profile (minimal, default, complete)

Java

"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/java:1": {
  "version": "17",
  "installMaven": true,
  "installGradle": true
}

Options:

• version: Java version
• installMaven: Install Maven
• installGradle: Install Gradle
• jdkDistro: JDK distribution (ms, default)

.NET

"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/dotnet:2": {
  "version": "8.0"
}

Options:

• version: .NET version
• aspnetcore: Install ASP.NET Core runtime

PHP

"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/php:1": {
  "version": "8.2",
  "installComposer": true
}

Options:

• version: PHP version
• installComposer: Install Composer

Ruby

"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/ruby:1": {
  "version": "3.2"
}

Options:

• version: Ruby version

Shell & Terminal

Oh My Zsh

"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/omz:1": {
  "plugins": "git docker kubectl"
}

Options:

• plugins: Space-separated plugin list
• theme: Theme name (default: "robbyrussell")

Fish Shell

"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/fish:1": {}

Starship Prompt

"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/starship:1": {}

Cloud & Infrastructure

AWS CLI

"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/aws-cli:1": {}

Azure CLI

"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/azure-cli:1": {}

Google Cloud CLI

"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/gcloud:1": {}

Terraform

"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/terraform:1": {
  "version": "latest",
  "tflint": "latest"
}

Options:

• version: Terraform version
• tflint: TFLint version
• terragrunt: Terragrunt version

Kubectl & Helm

"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/kubectl-helm-minikube:1": {
  "version": "latest",
  "helm": "latest",
  "minikube": "latest"
}

Databases & Data Tools

PostgreSQL Client

"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/postgresql-client:1": {}

MySQL Client

"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/mysql-client:1": {}

Redis Client (redis-cli)

"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/redis-cli:1": {}

MongoDB Shell

"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/mongodb-community:1": {}

Utilities

jq (JSON processor)

"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/jq:1": {}

yq (YAML processor)

"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/yq:1": {}

HTTPie (HTTP client)

"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/httpie:1": {}

Deno

"ghcr.io/anthropics/devcontainer-features/deno:1": {}

Community Features

Beyond official features, many community features exist:

Bun

"ghcr.io/shyim/devcontainers-features/bun:1": {}

pnpm

"ghcr.io/devcontainers-contrib/features/pnpm:2": {}

Yarn

"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/yarn:1": {}

Biome (linter/formatter)

"ghcr.io/biomejs/devcontainer-features/biome:1": {}

Feature Configuration Patterns

Version Pinning

{
  "features": {
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/node:1": {
      "version": "20.10.0"
    }
  }
}

Multiple Language Versions

{
  "features": {
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/node:1": {
      "version": "20"
    },
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/python:1": {
      "version": "3.11"
    }
  }
}

Override Install Order

{
  "features": {
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/node:1": {},
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/python:1": {}
  },
  "overrideFeatureInstallOrder": [
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/python",
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/node"
  ]
}

Common Feature Combinations

Full Stack JavaScript

{
  "features": {
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/node:1": { "version": "20" },
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/git:1": {},
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/github-cli:1": {},
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/docker-in-docker:2": {}
  }
}

Python Data Science

{
  "features": {
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/python:1": { "version": "3.11" },
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/git:1": {},
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/github-cli:1": {},
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/postgresql-client:1": {}
  }
}

DevOps/Platform Engineering

{
  "features": {
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/git:1": {},
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/docker-in-docker:2": {},
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/kubectl-helm-minikube:1": {},
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/terraform:1": {},
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/aws-cli:1": {}
  }
}

Go Microservices

{
  "features": {
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/go:1": { "version": "1.21" },
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/git:1": {},
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/docker-in-docker:2": {},
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/postgresql-client:1": {}
  }
}

Troubleshooting Features

Feature Not Installing

1. Check feature name spelling (case-sensitive)
2. Check version exists
3. Review devcontainer creation logs
4. Try rebuilding without cache

Feature Conflicts

Some features may conflict:

• Multiple versions of same language
• Docker-in-Docker vs Docker-outside-of-Docker
• Different shell configurations

Use overrideFeatureInstallOrder to control order.

Slow Feature Installation

Features install sequentially. For faster startup:

1. Move stable tools to Dockerfile
2. Use prebuilds for team repositories
3. Only include actually needed features

Finding Feature Options

1. Check official docs: https://containers.dev/features
2. Check feature's GitHub repo README
3. Look at devcontainer-feature.json in feature source