[Feature Request] Add .devcontainer to the existing project in a more better way

[kmehant]

Issue

Adding .devcontainer from git repo is not a clean and easy way for all developers.

Context

I have some points which we can implement in visual studio code - insiders as part of remote development.

• Create a library of dev container definitions like vs-code extensions
• Access the library through visual studio code - insiders directly without the present way of getting that from the git repo.
• Adding .devcontainer should be made as simple as adding vs-code extensions.
• On adding .devcontainer should trigger opening the project in the container.

[kmehant]

@Chuxel @egamma any thought about this?

[Chuxel]

Moving to vscode-remote-release since this is not about the definitions themselves.

@kmehant Thanks for the feedback - Just to double check, this is this about repository-containers in vscode-dev-containers or adding a container to a folder? (Or is this actually an ask to clone directly into a container like #614?)

A few comments if this is about the folder workflow:

Create a library of dev container definitions like vs-code extensions

That is this what vscode-dev-containers is intended to be. Is there something else you have in mind?

Access the library through visual studio code - insiders directly without the present way of getting that from the git repo.

The Remote-Containers: "Create Container Configuration File...", "Remote-Containers: Reopen Folder in Container", and "Remote-Containers: Open Folder in Container..." commands all use the contents of the vscode-dev-containers repository for the dropdown that appears. Currently the only reason to come to the vscode-dev-containers repo is if you want to look at the contents of the definition before picking one or would like to contribute.

That said, is there something it is not covering that you would like to see? Or are you hoping that the list would update the moment a merge is happening? (Right now the list is updated every release, but that's not the ultimate goal.)

Adding .devcontainer should be made as simple as adding vs-code extensions.

Is there something you are thinking about beyond the commands above?

On adding .devcontainer should trigger opening the project in the container.

If you use the "Remote-Containers: Reopen Folder in Container" or "Remote-Containers: Open Folder in Container..." commands on a folder that doesn't have a .devcontainer json, VS Code does open after you select a definition. We don't do this in the Create Container Configuration File... at the moment since that's more focused on scenarios where you want to then customize, but we do prompt to reopen after the definition is added.

Was there something else you had in mind? (Or were the commands just not discoverable enough and you didn't know this worked?)

[kmehant]

@Chuxel Thanks a lot for the explanation. I just missed a few features and now I am super happy that things are present already.

[kmehant]

That said, is there something it is not covering that you would like to see? Or are you hoping that the list would update the moment a merge is happening? (Right now the list is updated every release, but that's not the ultimate goal.)

@Chuxel
I had little concern about this! I thought vscode-dev-container repo has got a CI pipeline to push the merged definitions immediately into the list on vscode-insiders. It would be nice if vscode-insiders could fetch all the definitions from GitHub rather being hardcoded and added to the list on releases. The reason is there might be continuous fixes made to the definitions on GitHub and would be great if they are immediately reflected in production 😃

[egamma]

It would be nice if vscode-insiders could fetch all the definitions from GitHub rather being hardcoded and added to the list on releases. The reason is there might be continuous fixes made to the definitions on GitHub and would be great if they are immediately reflected in production

pls see #425

[egamma]

closing as a duplicate of #425