8000 update envbuilder doc with dev container integration consideration · coder/coder@d9f818c · GitHub
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update envbuilder doc with dev container integration consideration
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‎docs/admin/templates/managing-templates/devcontainers/index.md

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workflows, reduces the need for tickets and approvals, and promotes greater
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independence for developers.
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## Prerequisites
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An administrator should construct or choose a base image and create a template
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that includes a `devcontainer_builder` image before a developer team configures
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dev containers.
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## Benefits of devcontainers
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There are several benefits to adding a dev container-compatible template to
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Coder:
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- Reliability through standardization
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- Scalability for growing teams
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- Improved security
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- Performance efficiency
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- Cost Optimization
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### Reliability through standardization
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Use dev containers to empower development teams to personalize their own
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environments while maintaining consistency and security through an approved and
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hardened base image.
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Standardized environments ensure uniform behavior across machines and team
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members, eliminating "it works on my machine" issues and creating a stable
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foundation for development and testing. Containerized setups reduce dependency
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conflicts and misconfigurations, enhancing build stability.
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### Scalability for growing teams
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This doc explains how to use Envbuilder to integrate dev containers in a template.
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Dev containers allow organizations to handle multiple projects and teams
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efficiently.
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For the Docker-based Dev Containers integration, follow the [Configure a template for dev containers](../../extending-templates/devcontainers.md) documentation.
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You can leverage platforms like Kubernetes to allocate resources on demand,
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optimizing costs and ensuring fair distribution of quotas. Developer teams can
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use efficient custom images and independently configure the contents of their
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version-controlled dev containers.
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This approach allows organizations to scale seamlessly, reducing the maintenance
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burden on the administrators that support diverse projects while allowing
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development teams to maintain their own images and onboard new users quickly.
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### Improved security
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Since Coder and Envbuilder run on your own infrastructure, you can use firewalls
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and cluster-level policies to ensure Envbuilder only downloads packages from
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your secure registry powered by JFrog Artifactory or Sonatype Nexus.
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Additionally, Envbuilder can be configured to push the full image back to your
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registry for additional security scanning.
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This means that Coder admins can require hardened base images and packages,
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while still allowing developer self-service.
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Envbuilder runs inside a small container image but does not require a Docker
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daemon in order to build a dev container. This is useful in environments where
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you may not have access to a Docker socket for security reasons, but still need
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to work with a container.
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### Performance efficiency
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Create a unique image for each project to reduce the dependency size of any
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given project.
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Envbuilder has various caching modes to ensure workspaces start as fast as
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possible, such as layer caching and even full image caching and fetching via the
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[Envbuilder Terraform provider](https://registry.terraform.io/providers/coder/envbuilder/latest/docs).
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## Prerequisites
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### Cost optimization
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An administrator should construct or choose a base image and create a template
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that includes an Envbuilder container image `coder/envbuilder` before a developer team configures dev containers.
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By creating unique images per-project, you remove unnecessary dependencies and
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reduce the workspace size and resource consumption of any given project. Full
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image caching ensures optimal start and stop times.
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## Benefits of Envbuilder
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## When to use a dev container
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Key differences compared with the [Docker-based integration](../../extending-templates/devcontainers.md):
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Dev containers are a good fit for developer teams who are familiar with Docker
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and are already using containerized development environments. If you have a
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large number of projects with different toolchains, dependencies, or that depend
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on a particular Linux distribution, dev containers make it easier to quickly
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switch between projects.
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| Capability / Trait | Dev Containers integration (CLI-based) | Envbuilder Dev Containers |
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|------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|
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| Build engine | `@devcontainers/cli` + Docker | Envbuilder transforms the workspace image |
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| Runs separate Docker container | Yes (parent workspace + child container) | No (modifies the parent container) |
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| Multiple Dev Containers per workspace | Yes | No |
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| Rebuild when `devcontainer.json` changes | Yes (auto-prompt) | Limited (requires full workspace rebuild) |
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| Docker required in workspace | Yes | No (works in restricted envs) |
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| Admin vs. developer control | Developer decides per repo | Platform admin manages via template |
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| Templates | Standard `devcontainer.json` | Terraform + Envbuilder blocks |
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| Suitable for CI / AI agents | Yes. Deterministic, composable | Less ideal. No isolated container |
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They may also be a great fit for more restricted environments where you may not
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have access to a Docker daemon since it doesn't need one to work.
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Consult the full comparison at [Choose an approach to Dev Containers](../../extending-templates/dev-containers-envbuilder.md).
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## Devcontainer Features
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## Dev container Features
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[Dev container Features](https://containers.dev/implementors/features/) allow
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owners of a project to specify self-contained units of code and runtime
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## Next steps
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- [Add a dev container template](./add-devcontainer.md)
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- [Add an Envbuilder dev container template](./add-devcontainer.md)
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- [Choose an approach to Dev Containers](../../extending-templates/dev-containers-envbuilder.md)

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