Dev Containers Skill

Set up local development environments with production parity for DigitalOcean App Platform applications.

Primary value: 30-second feedback loops instead of 7-minute deploy cycles.

Quick Decision

What do you need?
├── New project setup → Workflow 1
├── Existing App Platform app → Workflow 2
└── CLI-only testing (no IDE) → See cli-workflow.md

Quick Start: Clone and Copy

# Clone the reference devcontainer
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/bikramkgupta/do-app-devcontainer.git /tmp/devcontainer-ref

# Copy to your project
cp -r /tmp/devcontainer-ref/.devcontainer /path/to/your-project/

# Clean up
rm -rf /tmp/devcontainer-ref

Then customize COMPOSE_PROFILES in .devcontainer/devcontainer.json:

"containerEnv": {
  "COMPOSE_PROFILES": "app,postgres,minio"
}

Available Profiles

Profile	Service	Use When
`postgres`	PostgreSQL 18	SQL database
`mysql`	MySQL 8	MySQL database
`mongo`	MongoDB 8	Document database
`valkey`	Valkey 8	Redis-compatible cache
`kafka`	Confluent Kafka 7.7	Message streaming
`minio`	RustFS	S3-compatible storage
`opensearch`	OpenSearch 3.0	Full-text search

Connection Strings

Service	Connection String
PostgreSQL	`postgresql://postgres:password@postgres:5432/app`
MySQL	`mysql://mysql:mysql@mysql:3306/app`
MongoDB	`mongodb://mongodb:mongodb@mongo:27017/app?authSource=admin`
Valkey	`redis://valkey:6379`
Kafka	`kafka:9092`
RustFS	`http://minio:9000` (creds: `rustfsadmin/rustfsadmin`)
OpenSearch	`http://opensearch:9200`

Inside container: Use service names (e.g., postgres:5432) From host: Use docker compose port to find mapped ports

Workflow 1: New Project Setup

Trigger: "I'm building a [language] app with [services]"

Copy .devcontainer/ from reference repo (see Quick Start)
Set COMPOSE_PROFILES based on required services
Create env-devcontainer.example with connection strings
Open in VS Code/Cursor → "Reopen in Container"

devcontainer.json template:

{
  "name": "App Platform Dev Environment",
  "dockerComposeFile": "docker-compose.yml",
  "service": "app",
  "workspaceFolder": "/workspaces/app",
  "features": {
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/github-cli:1": {},
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/node:1": {},
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/python:1": {},
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers-extra/features/uv:1": {},
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers-extra/features/digitalocean-cli:1": {},
    "ghcr.io/anthropics/devcontainer-features/claude-code:1": {},
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/docker-outside-of-docker:1": {}
  },
  "containerEnv": {
    "COMPOSE_PROFILES": "app,postgres"
  },
  "initializeCommand": "cd \"${localWorkspaceFolder}\" && bash .devcontainer/init.sh",
  "postCreateCommand": ".devcontainer/post-create.sh",
  "remoteUser": "vscode",
  "shutdownAction": "stopCompose"
}

Workflow 2: Add to Existing App Platform App

Trigger: "I have an App Platform app, help me run it locally"

Read .do/app.yaml to detect services
Map App Platform → local containers:

App Platform	Local Profile
`databases[].engine: PG`	`postgres`
`databases[].engine: MYSQL`	`mysql`
`databases[].engine: MONGODB`	`mongo`
`databases[].engine: REDIS`	`valkey`
Spaces attachment	`minio`

Generate environment mapping:

# Production (App Platform injects)
# DATABASE_URL=${db.DATABASE_URL}

# Local Development
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:password@postgres:5432/app

Environment Template

# env-devcontainer.example

# Database
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:password@postgres:5432/app

# Cache
REDIS_URL=redis://valkey:6379

# S3-compatible storage (RustFS)
SPACES_ENDPOINT=http://minio:9000
SPACES_KEY_ID=rustfsadmin
SPACES_SECRET_KEY=rustfsadmin
SPACES_BUCKET_NAME=my-app-local
SPACES_FORCE_PATH_STYLE=true

What You Get from Reference Repo

.devcontainer/
├── devcontainer.json           # IDE configuration
├── docker-compose.yml          # All 7 backing services
├── init.sh                     # Git worktree support
├── post-create.sh              # Post-creation setup
├── .env                        # Generated (gitignored)
└── tests/                      # Service connectivity tests
    ├── agent-test.sh           # E2E validation
    ├── run-all-tests.sh        # Master test runner
    └── test-*.sh               # Individual service tests

Testing Services

# Test all running services
.devcontainer/tests/run-all-tests.sh --all

# Test specific services
.devcontainer/tests/run-all-tests.sh postgres minio

# List available tests
.devcontainer/tests/run-all-tests.sh --list

Health Check Timing

Service	Ready Time
PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Valkey, RustFS	<10s
Kafka	60s+ (KRaft init)
OpenSearch	30-60s (JVM warmup)

Quick Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
Port conflict	Config uses dynamic ports (`127.0.0.1:0:PORT`), should not conflict
Git commands fail	Rebuild container to re-run `init.sh`
Kafka slow to start	Wait 60s+, check: `docker compose logs kafka`
OpenSearch OOM	Increase heap: `OPENSEARCH_JAVA_OPTS=-Xms1g -Xmx1g`
Permission denied	Run: `sudo chown -R vscode:vscode /home/vscode`

Reference Files

File	Content
service-templates.md	All 7 docker-compose service blocks
s3-storage-patterns.md	RustFS setup, local vs production
agent-verification.md	CLI testing workflow for AI agents
cli-workflow.md	Port forwarding, env loading, startup
language-configurations.md	Node, Python, Go hot reload configs

Limitations

This skill does not handle:

Cloud deployment → use deployment skill
Production app specs → use designer skill
Database migrations → bring your own migration tool
DigitalOcean Functions → not containerizable
SSL/TLS → local uses HTTP; production handles SSL automatically

Integration with Other Skills

→ designer: Design production app spec after local testing
→ deployment: Set up GitHub Actions CI/CD
→ postgres: Configure managed database permissions
→ troubleshooting: Debug production issues

devcontainers