Reference dotfiles repository in devcontainer.json for Codespaces

[jpawlowski]

Select Topic Area

Question

Body

Hello everyone,

I was hoping to be able to define a central dotfiles repository in my devcontainer.json so that people using the Codespace template can benefit from them.

Now it seems to me that Codespaces do not respect settings for regular Dev Containers in customizations.vscode.settings.dotfiles.repository, nor can one use a similar setting in the Codespaces namespace like customizations.codespaces.dotfiles.repository or anything like that.
The only way is that people must be instructed to clone a template dotfiles repository to their own GitHub user space and set this to be used for Codespace dotfiles before they can actually properly use a Codespace template that is made to separate between customization and personalization (as you explain here about how things should be separated).

Is this correct?

It would be better if I could preconfigure a Codespace entirely while still following the principle to separate customization and personalization. I want to provide the full experience to users of a Codespace and if they want, they can clone the Codespace template and the dotfiles repository to make their own adjustments.

There are quite many users who are not developers but would greatly benefit from a cool ready-to-use Codespace instance that they can still customize and (!) personalize in their own way, while they don't need to start from scratch for personalization.

[Mahd25]

Hello @jpawlowski

I think this setting will help you:

1. After clicking on your avatar on the right, go to GitHub settings

2. select "codespaces"

3. Check that option

[jpawlowski]

No, it will not help.

I don't want users of my pre-defined Codespace template to enable dotfiles in their profile as a mandatory act.

As I was trying to explain, I want this setting to be in the devcontainer.json file, just like it is possible for traditional Dev Containers as well. I want to ship a ready-to-use Codespace that people may optionally personalize if they want, but they can start with a prepared dotfiles repository that will just work.

I do think this should be natively integrated into Codespaces. In the meantime, I have started to develop a Dev Container Feature for Codespaces that will allow ingesting dotfiles to Codespaces via devcontainers.json (jpawlowski/devcontainer-features/codespace-dotfiles).

[codekiln]

@jpawlowski

There are quite many users who are not developers but would greatly benefit from a cool ready-to-use Codespace instance that they can still customize and (!) personalize in their own way, while they don't need to start from scratch for personalization.

Since the advent of vibe coding in Feb 2025, more non-software-engineers using Github, and in my opinion that's a really good thing both for software and for GitHub. The feature you described would make it easier for UX, PM, QA and other IC roles be able to feel at home with a basic, customizable setup in GitHub without needing to jump through additional hoops. This is particularly true today since AI coding agents are customized with dotfiles!

I would love to see a mature version of this make its way through the containers.dev standards process.

The guidelines for submitting proposals is supposed to be at https://github.inkcoo.com/devcontainers/spec/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md according to https://github.inkcoo.com/devcontainers/spec/blob/main/proposals/README.md.

Looking at recent changes, I think a github issue like devcontainers/spec#129 would need to be submitted, and then the devcontainer maintainers would need to approve the submission of a concrete proposal MR like devcontainers/spec#209, which would result in a proposal being accepted like https://github.inkcoo.com/devcontainers/spec/blob/main/proposals/features-library.md.

Are you using devcontainer-features/src/codespaces-dotfiles at main · jpawlowski/devcontainer-features today? Has it been an acceptable workaround to this problem for you for now?

Another thing that I've considered is creating a dotfiles github template for my github org(s) and then including AI skills that would enable users to have the AI configure it for them. This has its drawbacks, of course, but it might come with advantages related to having AI skills that sit alongside dotfiles.

Consider submitting your devcontainer feature to webpro/awesome-dotfiles: A curated list of dotfiles resources.. I've noticed that there aren't many resources there that are specific to the intersection of dotfiles and devcontainers.

[github-actions[bot]]

🕒 Discussion Activity Reminder 🕒

This Discussion has been labeled as dormant by an automated system for having no activity in the last 60 days. Please consider one the following actions:

1️⃣ Close as Out of Date: If the topic is no longer relevant, close the Discussion as out of date at the bottom of the page.

2️⃣ Provide More Information: Share additional details or context — or let the community know if you've found a solution on your own.

3️⃣ Mark a Reply as Answer: If your question has been answered by a reply, mark the most helpful reply as the solution.

Note: This dormant notification will only apply to Discussions with the Question label. To learn more, see our recent announcement.

Thank you for helping bring this Discussion to a resolution! 💬