My First Steps with DevPod and Dev Containers

In the past few days, I started learning more about Dev Containers and how they can make development environments easier to manage. I explored DevPod, which is a tool that helps you quickly set up and connect to development containers.

The main benefit I found is that it makes projects portable and consistent. You can open the same environment on any machine without worrying about missing dependencies or local setup problems.

Here is a short guide of what I learned:

DevPod Setup & Usage

1. Install DevPod CLI
Download and install:

curl -L -o devpod "https://github.com/loft-sh/devpod/releases/latest/download/devpod-linux-amd64" \
  && sudo install -c -m 0755 devpod /usr/local/bin \
  && rm -f devpod

Check installation:

devpod version

2. Configure IDE
Use no IDE:

devpod ide use none

Check IDEs:

devpod ide list

3. Add Provider
List providers:

devpod provider list

Add Docker:

devpod provider add docker

4. Create Dev Container
Start a container in the project:

devpod up .

Connect with SSH:

devpod ssh

5. VSCode Integration

• Install Dev Containers extension
• Install Docker Engine
• Reopen project in container

6. Example Configurations

Minimal:

{
  "name": "Python 3",
  "image": "mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/python:1-3.12-bullseye"
}

Advanced with features and environment variables:

{
  "name": "Python 3",
  "image": "mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/python:1-3.12-bullseye",
  "features": {
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/azure-cli:1": {},
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/github-cli:1": {},
    "ghcr.io/flexwie/devcontainer-features/op:1": {}
  },
  "remoteEnv": {
    "MY_VARIABLE": "Reza"
  }
}

7. Use Dotfiles

devpod up . --ide none --dotfiles git@github.com:xxxx/dotfiles-demo

With this setup, I now have a complete workflow:
Install → Configure IDE & Provider → Create Containers → Connect → Customize with Dotfiles