Production-ready DevContainer Features for instant, reproducible development environments.
This repository contains a collection of DevContainer Features developed and maintained by the helpers4 organization. All features are published to the GitHub Container Registry and can be referenced directly in any devcontainer.json.
ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/<feature-name>
Shared bootstrap library every other feature in this repo depends on: a common.sh script for user/home detection and apt helpers, plus an automatic git-config self-heal that runs on every attach. This is an internal dependency, not something you add to devcontainer.json yourself — it comes along for free with any other helpers4 feature.
Key benefits:
- Repairs broken
credential.helper/gpg.programpaths and a missing SSH commit-signing key on every attach, on local and cloud containers alike - Nothing to configure — it activates automatically as soon as one helpers4 feature is present
- A single shared
common.shinstead of every feature carrying its own copy of user-detection logic
GitHub Copilot Chat and the gh copilot CLI extension, plus shared instructions that steer Copilot's commit-message, PR-description, and code-review generation toward this org's conventions (Conventional Commits + gitmoji + PR template). Covers the AI assistant only — pair it with github-dev for gh CLI and the other GitHub platform extensions.
Key benefits:
- GitHub Copilot Chat pre-installed,
gh copilot explain/suggestin the terminal - Commit messages and PR descriptions generated to this org's Conventional Commits + gitmoji format automatically
- Code review instructions focused on correctness and security, not style nitpicks
- Every instruction is overridable or disableable per-repo
Installs the Claude Code IDE extension across supported editors and persists ~/.claude (credentials, config, memory) across every rebuild — including GitHub Codespaces — via a Docker named volume. Optionally installs the claude CLI too.
Key benefits:
- Credentials, config, and memory survive every rebuild,
--no-cacheincluded - Shared per host OS user, not per container — no re-login after a rebuild
- Optional
claudeCLI alongside the IDE extension
Installs the Mistral Vibe IDE extension across supported editors for AI-assisted coding powered by Mistral. Credentials and configuration persist in a Docker named volume, surviving every rebuild including Codespaces.
Key benefits:
- Credentials and configuration survive every rebuild,
--no-cacheand Codespaces included - Shared per host OS user across containers
- Zero setup beyond adding the feature
Installs the Cline AI coding agent extension for VS Code and Cursor, and optionally the cline CLI. Unlike claude-dev/mistral-dev, it persists no credentials of its own across rebuilds.
Key benefits:
- Cline extension pre-installed and ready to sign in
- Optional CLI install via
installCli - No named-volume persistence to manage — Cline handles its own auth
Installs nub, a single Rust binary that runs TypeScript/JavaScript files, package.json scripts, and local CLIs directly on the Node.js and package manager already in the container — no new runtime, no lock-in. Doesn't manage Node versions itself, so it never competes with the container's own version-selection mechanism.
Key benefits:
- Runs
.ts/.jsfiles and npm scripts without a separate runtime install - Built on top of whatever Node + package manager the container already has
- Pairs with
package-auto-install(packageManager: "nub") for one-line setup
Complete Vite+ toolchain setup with VS Code extensions (Oxc, Vitest), optimized configuration, and optional global CLI tools. Perfect for modern web development with React, Vue, Svelte, and more.
Key benefits:
- Pre-configured Oxc formatter/linter (100x faster than ESLint)
- Vitest test explorer integration
- Smart defaults for Vite+ development
- Global Oxc CLI installation option
- Project setup helper command
- Supports all Vite-compatible frameworks
OS-level dependencies for headless Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit, a browser-binary cache shared across rebuilds via a Docker named volume, and the official Playwright Test VS Code extension.
Key benefits:
- OS packages installed once via the official
playwright install-deps(no hand-maintained apt list) - Browser binaries cached in a Docker volume — no re-download on every rebuild
- Official Playwright Test VS Code extension, pre-configured
- Doesn't install the
playwrightnpm package itself — stays in sync with your project's own version - Enables Chromium's CDP
WebAuthn.addVirtualAuthenticatorfor passkey/WebAuthn testing without hardware
Automatically detects and runs npm/yarn/pnpm install in non-interactive mode after container creation. Handles corepack setup for Node 24+ and intelligently detects the package manager from package.json or lockfiles.
Key benefits:
- Automatic package manager detection from package.json or lockfiles
- Corepack support for Node 24+ (auto-installs if needed)
- Non-interactive mode (CI=true) prevents prompts
- Smart command selection (npm ci, pnpm --frozen-lockfile, yarn --immutable)
- Eliminates need for manual postCreateCommand
Configures a shared pnpm content-addressable store on the same filesystem as your code, so pnpm's hardlinks work and no stray .pnpm-store folders pollute your repos. A safer alternative to Docker-volume-based store sharing, which breaks hardlinking in bind-mounted workspaces.
Key benefits:
- Keeps the pnpm store on the same filesystem as bind-mounted repos
- No
.pnpm-storeclutter inside your projects - Shares the store across every repo and across rebuilds
- Fail-fast cross-device guard with an actionable fix message
- Writes
store-dirto~/.npmrc; works with any pnpm install
Angular-specific development environment with VS Code extensions and CLI autocompletion.
Key benefits:
- Essential VS Code extensions for Angular development
- CLI autocompletion for zsh and bash
- Optional Angular CLI installation
- Ready-to-use Angular development setup
Persist shell history per project by automatically detecting and configuring all available shells (zsh, bash, fish). Supports auto-detection or manual shell selection.
Key benefits:
- Per-project history isolation
- Persistent across container rebuilds
- Multiple shell support (zsh, bash, fish)
- Team collaboration friendly
- Clean separation between personal and project commands
Installs git-absorb, a tool that automatically absorbs staged changes into their logical commits. Like 'git commit --fixup' but automatic.
Key benefits:
- Automatic fixup commits for staged changes
- Multi-architecture support (x86_64, aarch64)
- Git subcommand integration
- Lightweight single binary installation
- Perfect for cleaning up commit history
Syncs local Git, SSH, GPG, and npm configuration files into the devcontainer. Works on macOS, Linux, Windows (WSL), and GitHub Codespaces. Uses a merge strategy — never overwrites existing values.
Key benefits:
- Git configuration, SSH keys, GPG keys, and npm auth synced automatically
- Merge strategy: safe to use alongside Codespaces native auth
- Environment-aware: detects macOS, Linux, WSL, and Codespaces
- SSH agent forwarding with runtime detection and fallback chain
- Successor to
local-mounts
Replaced by
dotfiles-sync. Useghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/dotfiles-sync:1— options and behavior are fully compatible.
Core development environment with Git visualization, Markdown support, and essential editor enhancements. For GitHub tooling (gh CLI, Copilot, PR & Issues), use github-dev.
Key benefits:
- Git history, graph visualization, and conventional commits support
- Complete Markdown support with preview and linting
- Multi-cursor, code comparison, and local file history
- File format support (YAML, JSON, CSV, XML, Makefile)
- Works out-of-the-box with zero configuration
GitHub CLI (gh) and GitHub VS Code extensions (Copilot, Copilot Chat, Pull Requests & Issues, GitHub Actions, RemoteHub).
Key benefits:
ghCLI for PRs, issues, releases, and Actions runs from the terminal- Streamlined GitHub workflows in both the terminal and VS Code
- GitHub Copilot and Copilot Chat for AI assistance
- Pull Requests & Issues panel inside VS Code
- GitHub Actions workflow editor with validation
- RemoteHub to browse remote repos without cloning
TypeScript/JavaScript development setup with indexing, import management, HTML/CSS intelligence, and web tools. Built on top of essential-dev for core Git/editor enhancements, with Copilot and PR tooling provided by github-dev.
Key benefits:
- Latest TypeScript with indexing and import management
- HTML and CSS intelligence with auto-rename
- Automatic import/export management and path aliases
- Web development ready with code generation utilities
- Requires
essential-devfor core tools
Automatically configures file headers with customizable templates based on project, license, company, and contributors information.
Key benefits:
- Two header styles: simple (3 lines) and custom (user-defined)
- Flexible configuration with project name, license, company, and contributors
- Helper script
h4-init-headersfor easy initialization - SPDX compliant license identifiers
- Works in VS Code with zero configuration needed after setup
- Perfect for maintaining consistent file headers across team projects
Installs peon-ping for game character voice notifications when your AI coding agent finishes or needs permission. Includes the Peon Pet VS Code extension.
Key benefits:
- Sound notifications from 165+ packs (Warcraft, StarCraft, Portal, Zelda…)
- Multi-IDE hooks: Claude Code, Copilot, Cursor, Codex, and more
- Animated Peon Pet sidebar companion in VS Code
- Devcontainer-aware audio relay to host machine
- Non-interactive, idempotent installation
Installs bws, the official Bitwarden Secrets Manager CLI, straight from Bitwarden's own GitHub releases. Scoped to non-interactive, machine-account-token auth only — no vault login, no persisted state, no host bind-mounts.
Key benefits:
- Token-only auth via
BWS_ACCESS_TOKEN— no interactive login flow to script around - Nothing persisted or bind-mounted; everything stays inside the container
bws(Secrets Manager) only — not thebwvault CLI, which needs a different auth model
Clones every repo of a GitHub org into sibling /workspaces folders and generates or updates a multi-root .code-workspace file — add this to one "bootstrap" project instead of hand-writing mounts entries and a workspace file per project.
Key benefits:
- One feature reference brings in an entire org's worth of repos
- Clones persist across rebuilds via a named volume
- Auto-discovers the org from the bootstrap repo's own
originremote, or takes an explicit repo list
Features from this repository are available via GitHub Container Registry. Reference them in your devcontainer.json:
{
"features": {
"ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/essential-dev:1": {},
"ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/github-dev:1": {},
"ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/vite-plus:1": {},
"ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/playwright-dev:1": {},
"ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/package-auto-install:1": {},
"ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/pnpm-store:1": {},
"ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/typescript-dev:1": {},
"ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/auto-header:1": {
"projectName": "my-project"
},
"ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/angular-dev:1": {},
"ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/shell-history-per-project:1": {},
"ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/git-absorb:1": {},
"ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/dotfiles-sync:1": {},
"ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/peon-ping:1": {}
}
}| Feature | Description | Documentation |
|---|---|---|
| helpers4-common | Internal dependency, not added directly — shared bootstrap + automatic git-config self-heal | README |
| essential-dev | Core dev environment with Git visualization, editor tools, and Markdown | README |
| github-dev | gh CLI, Copilot, PR & Issues, Actions, RemoteHub | README |
| copilot-dev | Copilot Chat + gh copilot CLI + shared commit/PR/review instructions | README |
| claude-dev | Claude Code extension + CLI + persistent ~/.claude across rebuilds |
README |
| mistral-dev | Mistral Vibe extension + persistent ~/.vibe across rebuilds |
README |
| cline-dev | Cline AI coding agent extension + optional CLI | README |
| nub | Fast TS/JS/script runner on top of the container's own Node + package manager | README |
| auto-header | Automatic file headers with customizable templates (simple or custom) | README |
| vite-plus | Complete Vite+ toolchain with Oxc, Vitest, and VS Code integration | README |
| playwright-dev | Playwright OS deps (Chromium/Firefox/WebKit) + shared browser-binary volume + VS Code extension | README |
| package-auto-install | Automatic package installation with corepack support for Node 24+ | README |
| pnpm-store | Shared pnpm store on the same filesystem as your code — no stray .pnpm-store in repos | README |
| typescript-dev | TypeScript/JavaScript dev with indexing and web tools (requires essential-dev) | README |
| angular-dev | Angular development environment with extensions and CLI autocompletion | README |
| shell-history-per-project | Per-project shell history persistence with multi-shell auto-detection | README |
| git-absorb | Automatic absorption of staged changes into logical commits | README |
| dotfiles-sync | Sync local Git, SSH, GPG, and npm config — works on macOS, Linux, WSL, Codespaces | README |
| bitwarden-secrets-manager | bws CLI from Bitwarden's own GitHub releases, token-only auth, no persisted state |
README |
| peon-ping | AI agent sound notifications with multi-IDE hooks and Peon Pet extension | README |
| org-workspace | Clone an entire GitHub org into sibling workspace folders with one feature | README |
helpers4-common is the shared foundation almost every feature here dependsOn — you never add it yourself, it just comes along. A handful of features chain further on top of each other:
flowchart BT
common(["helpers4-common<br/>(implicit base)"])
node(["devcontainers/node"])
github["github-dev"]
essential["essential-dev"] --> common
typescript["typescript-dev"] --> essential
vite["vite-plus"] --> typescript
vite --> common
playwright["playwright-dev"] --> typescript
playwright --> node
playwright --> common
nub["nub"] --> node
nub --> common
org["org-workspace"] --> github
org --> common
leaves["auto-header, git-absorb, angular-dev, dotfiles-sync,<br/>package-auto-install, pnpm-store, peon-ping,<br/>shell-history-per-project, claude-dev, mistral-dev,<br/>bitwarden-secrets-manager"] --> common
github-dev, copilot-dev, and cline-dev have no dependsOn at all — they only install VS Code extensions and CLI tools, with no shared bootstrap logic to pull in.
Same as above, plus playwright-dev for browser automation:
{
"features": {
"ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/essential-dev:1": {},
"ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/typescript-dev:1": {},
"ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/vite-plus:1": {},
"ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/package-auto-install:1": {},
"ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/pnpm-store:1": {},
"ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/playwright-dev:1": {}
}
}github-dev for the gh CLI and PR/Issues tooling, copilot-dev and claude-dev for two AI assistants side by side, and peon-ping so you hear when either one finishes or needs input:
{
"features": {
"ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/essential-dev:1": {},
"ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/github-dev:1": {},
"ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/copilot-dev:1": {},
"ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/claude-dev:1": {},
"ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/peon-ping:1": {}
}
}This org's own .dev repo hand-writes a mounts entry per sibling repo to bring .github, action, devcontainer, typescript, and website into one workspace. org-workspace replaces that with one feature reference — point it at the org and it clones every repo and generates the multi-root .code-workspace file for you:
{
"features": {
"ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/github-dev:1": {},
"ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/org-workspace:1": {
"autoDiscover": "public"
}
}
}Full documentation is available at helpers4.dev/devcontainer.
This repository follows the DevContainer Features specification and is compatible with the DevContainer Features distribution.
Features can be tested locally using the DevContainer CLI:
devcontainer features test --features shell-history-per-projectThat installs the CLI on your host. To have it available inside a devcontainer instead —
useful for testing this repo's own features without a Node.js install on the host, or for
building/running a nested devcontainer — add the community
ghcr.io/devcontainers-extra/features/devcontainers-cli
feature. It already does exactly this (a thin wrapper around npm install -g @devcontainers/cli),
so this repo doesn't duplicate it with a feature of its own:
{
"features": {
"ghcr.io/devcontainers-extra/features/devcontainers-cli:1": {}
}
}Features are automatically published to GitHub Container Registry via GitHub Actions when tagged releases are created.
Contributions are welcome! Please follow the established feature structure and test your changes locally before submitting.
- Fork the repository
- Create a feature branch
- Add your feature following the established patterns
- Test your feature locally
- Submit a pull request
This project is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0.
Inspired by the official DevContainers Features repository and Stuart Leeks' dev-container-features for the shell-history concept — with the key difference being project-scoped rather than global user history persistence.
Bérenger |
{ "features": { "ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/essential-dev:1": {}, "ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/typescript-dev:1": {}, "ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/vite-plus:1": {}, "ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/package-auto-install:1": {}, "ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/pnpm-store:1": {} } }