devcontainer-context-menu 0.1.3

Open folders in VS Code devcontainers from Nautilus and the CLI

DevContainer Context Menu

Open any folder as a VS Code (or compatible fork) Devcontainer — from a context menu or the terminal.

Support

• Windows via a Rust based COM extension
• Linux (Nautilus) via a python based nautilus extension
• Command line via a python uvx tool, run uvx code-devcontainer

Changing editor

All version of the extension take the first binary called code on your PATH.

If you want to change to another VS Code fork such as VSCodium then make sure to add it to your PATH.

Required folder structure

The Open in Devcontainer entry appears only for folders that contain a devcontainer config — either by selecting a single directory or right-clicking the background of an open folder. Place the config in either of these locations:

my-project/
├── .devcontainer/
│   └── devcontainer.json   # preferred
└── ...

# or, at the project root:

my-project/
├── devcontainer.json       # fallback
└── ...

The config is resolved in this order:

1. .devcontainer/devcontainer.json
2. devcontainer.json

If neither file exists, VS Code still opens the folder in Dev Containers mode and prompts you to create a configuration.

workspaceFolder is read from the config when present; otherwise the container defaults to /workspaces/<folder-name>.

A minimal devcontainer.json:

{
  "image": "mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/base:ubuntu"
}

CLI

dcode              # opens the current directory
dcode ~/my-project # opens the specified directory

Linux — Nautilus context menu

Install the .deb from the latest GitHub release:

sudo dpkg -i code-devcontainer_*_all.deb

Then restart Nautilus:

nautilus -q

Right-click any folder (or the background of an open folder) that contains a devcontainer config and choose Open in Devcontainer. The entry only appears for folders that have a config.

Windows — Explorer context menu

Download code-devcontainer-setup.exe from the latest GitHub release and run it. No admin rights required.

Right-click any folder (or the background of an open folder) that contains a devcontainer config and choose Open in Devcontainer. The entry only appears for folders that have a config. Uninstall from Settings → Apps ("Open in Devcontainer").

Development

uv sync
just test        # run tests with coverage
just lint        # ruff check + format
just typecheck   # ty check

Release

Trigger the Release workflow in GitHub Actions and choose patch, minor, or major. This bumps the version, publishes to PyPI, builds a .deb and Windows installer, and creates a GitHub release with all assets attached.