Working with dev containers

You can launch a dev container to load your specific development environment and begin active development tasks.

When you are added to a teamspace, new preconfigured dev containers appear on your landing page under the Other Dev Containers tab. Since you have just accessed the workspace for the first time, the Running Dev Containers tab will initially be empty. Launching a container moves it to the Running Dev Containers tab, where all active environments are managed.

To start working with a dev container:

  1. Click the Let’s Go button on a dev container.
  2. The dev container will launch and begin running - this may take some time initially.
  3. Once running, the container will move to the Running Dev Containers tab.

    To optimize performance, Code provides real-time visibility into the resource metrics of your dev containers, such as:

    • Launch time and date: The specific date and time the container was started.
    • Duration: The total uptime of the container since launch.
    • Memory consumption: The real-time RAM usage, measured in Megabytes (MB).
    • CPU cores: The number of CPU cores currently utilized by the container.
  4. Go to File > Open Folder to get started, after the Code IDE loads.
  5. Click Yes when prompted with "Do you trust the authors of the files in this folder?".
  6. Navigate to the workspace directory.
  7. You can now start working in your workspace. For example, you can clone a Git repository to populate your workspace with the source code you want to work with.
    Note: This is just a quickstart example. As the environment runs on a VS Code Server, you can install extensions, debug applications with breakpoints and live logs, use terminals and Git integration, and fully customize your dev container with the dependencies you need. Use this as a starting point to explore the full development workflow.

    A video version of the above steps is also available for reference. It demonstrates the full workflow - from accessing Code to running your application in the browser IDE. Watching the video can help you follow along more easily. Learn more about dev containers here.