How to Run Dev-Containers on Azure?
I want to run dev-containers on Azure infrastructure. I've noticed that Coder provides:
- A template for dev-containers via Docker (https://registry.coder.com/templates/coder/docker-devcontainer)
- Templates for Azure-hosted workspaces (Linux and Windows VMs)
However, there doesn't seem to be a template that combines both — i.e., running dev-containers inside an Azure-hosted VM.
I'm wondering:
- Has anyone successfully set up a workflow like this?
- Is there a reason why Coder hasn't provided an Azure + dev-container template out of the box?
- Is the recommended path to start from the Azure VM template and add Docker + devcontainer provisioning manually?
Would love to hear if anyone's tackled this, or has suggestions on best practices. Thanks in advance!
4 Replies
What are you creating this issue for?
Hi,
If you're using the latest version of Coder (v2.24.x), then this comes with a new dev container integration (so without envbuilder). We're still working on getting the documentation and templates ready for our new approach.
To give a brief summary: The new approach will require a Docker socket available in the VM. The VM will also need to have the
@devcontainers/cli tool from Microsoft installed in it (you can use https://registry.coder.com/modules/coder/devcontainers-cli if you have npm available in the VM).
We do have some documentation that could help a little with this:
https://coder.com/docs/admin/templates/extending-templates/devcontainers
If you have any further questions I'm happy to assist, I'm one of the developers that worked on our new dev container integration!just wanted to add that the reason we don't have an Azure devcontainer template is just because we haven't seen the demand for it!
cc @Mauro