devcont

CLI for bootstrapping project-specific .devcontainer setups with sane defaults and Claude Code integration. The tool detects your tech stack, copies a bundled template (Python, Node, Go, Rust, generic, compose-aware, etc.), and optionally wires in Claude-specific mounts or legacy template sources.

Features

• devcont init auto-detects stack + docker-compose usage and scaffolds .devcontainer/ accordingly.
• Bundled template catalog (run devcont templates to inspect) plus --template <id> override support.
• Legacy --source flag to copy from an existing .devcontainer folder if you need full control.
• devcont up|attach|down|shell wrappers for the official Dev Containers CLI.

Installation

npm install -g @devcontainers/cli
cd /path/to/devcont
npm install
npm install -g .
# or once published
npm install -g devcont

Usage

# Initialize a repo with an auto-selected template
cd /path/to/project
devcont init

# Force a specific template
devcont init --template python-uv

# Specify compose service when your docker-compose has multiple entries
# (CLI prompts if omitted; `DEVCONT_NO_PROMPT=1` skips prompts)
devcont init --compose-service api

# Opt into Claude mounts or firewall hardening for non-Claude templates
devcont init --claude-mounts --firewall

# List bundled templates
devcont templates

# Legacy mode: copy from an existing template repo
devcont init --source ~/projects/custom-devcontainer

After initialization:

devcont up       # build+start container
devcont attach   # open shell inside
# or combine
devcont shell

Templates

Template sources live under templates/ with metadata in templates/index.json. See docs/templates.md for details on adding/modifying templates, compose behavior, and tests.

Preview: asciinema demo shows devcont init --template node creating a sandboxed .devcontainer.

Development

• Requirements: Node.js 20+, npm.
• Run npm test, npm run lint:templates, npm run spec (requires devcontainer CLI), and npm run smoke (parallelized, tune via SMOKE_MAX_WORKERS) before sending changes.
• Follow the doc in docs/devcontainer-template-plan.md to evolve template architecture.

CI / Automation

• Recommended GitHub Actions flow: npm ci, npm run lint:templates, npm run smoke, npm test. (Prompts are disabled automatically by setting DEVCONT_NO_PROMPT=1.)

Legacy --source

devcont init --source <path> copies .devcontainer/ from another repo (your previous Claude checkout, for example). When this flag is present we skip the bundled templates entirely and run the old “copy+patch” flow, so only use it if you truly need a custom template tree. Otherwise prefer the catalog via --template.

License

MIT – see LICENSE.