devs - DevContainer Management Tool

A Python command-line tool that simplifies managing multiple named devcontainers for any project.

Features

  • Multiple Named Containers: Start multiple devcontainers with custom names (e.g., "sally", "bob", "charlie")
  • VS Code Integration: Open containers in separate VS Code windows with clear titles
  • Project Isolation: Containers are prefixed with git repository names (org-repo format)
  • Environment Variable Management: Layered DEVS.yml configuration with user-specific overrides
  • Shared Authentication: Claude credentials are shared between containers for the same project
  • Cross-Platform: Works on any project with devcontainer configuration

Installation

pip install devs

Usage

# Start development environments
devs start frontend backend

# Open both in VS Code (separate windows)
devs vscode frontend backend

# Work in a specific container
devs shell frontend

# Run Claude in a container
devs claude frontend "Summarize this codebase"

# Run tests in a container
devs runtests frontend

# Environment variables support
devs start frontend --env DEBUG=true --env API_URL=http://localhost:3000
devs claude frontend "Fix the tests" --env NODE_ENV=test

# Set up Claude authentication (once per host)
devs claude --auth
# Or with API key
devs claude --auth --api-key <YOUR_API_KEY>

# Clean up when done
devs stop frontend backend

# List active containers
devs list

Configuration

Environment Variables

devs supports layered environment variable configuration through DEVS.yml files:

Priority order (highest to lowest):

  1. CLI --env flags
  2. ~/.devs/envs/{org-repo}/DEVS.yml (user-specific project overrides)
  3. ~/.devs/envs/default/DEVS.yml (user defaults)
  4. {project-root}/DEVS.yml (repository configuration)

Example DEVS.yml in your project:

env_vars:
  default:
    NODE_ENV: development
    API_URL: https://api.example.com
    DEBUG: "false"
  
  frontend:  # Container-specific overrides
    DEBUG: "true"
    FRONTEND_PORT: "3000"
    
  backend:
    NODE_ENV: production
    API_URL: https://prod-api.example.com

User-specific configuration:

# Global user defaults
mkdir -p ~/.devs/envs/default
echo 'env_vars:
  default:
    GLOBAL_SETTING: "user_preference"
    MY_SECRET: "user_secret"' > ~/.devs/envs/default/DEVS.yml

# Project-specific overrides (org-repo format)
mkdir -p ~/.devs/envs/myorg-myproject
echo 'env_vars:
  frontend:
    DEBUG: "true"
    LOCAL_SECRET: "dev_secret"' > ~/.devs/envs/myorg-myproject/DEVS.yml

📖 See ../../example-usage.md for detailed examples and scenarios

Requirements

  • Docker: Container runtime
  • VS Code: With code command in PATH
  • DevContainer CLI: npm install -g @devcontainers/cli
  • Project Requirements: .devcontainer/devcontainer.json in target projects

Architecture

Container Naming

Containers follow the pattern: dev-<org>-<repo>-<dev-name>

Example: dev-ideonate-devs-sally, dev-ideonate-devs-bob

VS Code Window Management

Each container gets unique workspace paths to ensure VS Code treats them as separate sessions.

Claude Authentication Sharing

The tool creates symlinks so all containers for the same project share Claude authentication.

Development

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/ideonate/devs.git
cd devs/python-devs

# Install in development mode
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Run tests
pytest

# Format code
black devs tests

# Type checking
mypy devs

License

MIT License

Project links

Data verified by PyPI on Aug 5, 2026
Data provided by the project maintainers, verified at the time the release was uploaded to PyPI.

Key dates

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  • Released:
Latest release

1 maintainer

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Avatar for ideonate from gravatar.com ideonate

Credits

Author: Dan Lester

GitHub Statistics

Data verified by PyPI on Aug 5, 2026
The GitHub source repository was provided by the project maintainers and verified by PyPI at the time of upload. Stars, forks, and open issues/PRs are derived from that repository and have not been independently verified.

License expression

MIT
View SPDX License List

Requires

Python >=3.8

Provides Extra

dev

Tags

devcontainer docker vscode development

Classifiers

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