dev-dots

A single, multipurpose developer devcontainer: fast startup, strong terminal ergonomics, AI-ready workflows, and reproducible tooling.

This repository combines dotfiles, container setup scripts, and workspace automation so any project can boot into a consistent, high-signal development environment.

Vision

dev-dots is an opinionated, production-ready devcontainer built to cover the full range of everyday development work — Python, data, content, and beyond — in a single container:

• Reproducible CLI toolchain
• Excellent shell UX out of the box
• AI-assisted tmux layouts for rapid coding sessions
• Minimal host setup required

What You Get Today

Container Baseline

Defined in .devcontainer/Dockerfile:

• Debian bookworm-slim base image
• Core dev tools: git, curl, tmux, htop, jq, wget, fd-find, bat, openssh-client, build-essential
• Data and search utilities: ripgrep, qsv, fzf
• Modern shell utilities: eza (ls replacement)
• Node.js LTS (for npm and Node-based tools)
• Latest Neovim install
• Non-root dev user and workspace-ready permissions
• CLI installs for opencode, uv, starship, and zoxide
• Dotfiles pre-loaded: .bashrc, bash helpers, starship config, tmux config, tmux layout scripts
• LazyVim starter pre-cloned to ~/.config/nvim (plugins download on first nvim launch)
• Git tooling: lazygit (TUI git client), gh (GitHub CLI), delta (syntax-highlighted diffs), gh-dash (GitHub dashboard TUI)
• System-level git pager configured to use delta (user ~/.gitconfig takes precedence)

Post-Create Provisioning

Defined in .devcontainer/post-create.sh:

• CLI availability verification (nvim, opencode, uv, starship, zoxide, node, npm, csvlens)
• Git tooling availability summary on startup
• Helpful tips printed on startup (lazygit, gh auth login, gh dash, tdl opencode)

Git Workflow Out of the Box

Host credentials are forwarded into the container via devcontainer.json bind mounts (readonly):

• ~/.gitconfig → /home/dev/.gitconfig
• ~/.ssh/ → /home/dev/.ssh/

Git operations (git push, git pull, SSH cloning) work inside the container without any extra setup.

Available git TUI tools:

Tool	Command	Notes
lazygit	lazygit	Full-featured TUI git client; integrates with LazyVim
GitHub CLI	gh	Baked in; run gh auth login once to enable authenticated ops
gh-dash	gh dash	GitHub dashboard TUI (PRs, issues, notifications)
delta	automatic	Syntax-highlighted diffs for every git diff / git log -p

Shell and Prompt Experience

From bash/ and starship/:

• Modular bash config (aliases, functions, rc)
• Productivity helpers (fzf history search, compression helpers, apt helpers)
• zoxide-powered directory jumping
• Starship prompt with concise git-aware status

AI + tmux Workflows

The tmux layout helpers are designed for coding with one or more AI assistants in parallel:

• tdl <ai> [second_ai]: editor + AI pane(s) + terminal
• tdlm <ai> [second_ai]: one dev window per subdirectory
• tsl <pane_count> <command>: command swarm across panes

These commands are sourced from ~/.tmux-dev-layouts.sh, which is pre-installed in the image and automatically loaded by .bashrc.

Repository Layout

.
├── .devcontainer/
│   ├── Dockerfile
│   ├── devcontainer.json
│   ├── post-create.sh
│   ├── tmux.conf
│   └── tmux-dev-layouts.sh
├── bash/
│   ├── .bashrc
│   └── .config/bash/
│       ├── aliases
│       ├── functions
│       └── rc
├── starship/
│   └── .config/starship.toml
└── README.md

Quick Start

1. Open this repository in VS Code.
2. Run Dev Containers: Reopen in Container.
3. Wait for post-create setup to finish.
4. Start working with nvim ., tmux, or your preferred workflow.
5. (Optional) Run gh auth login once to enable gh and gh dash with your GitHub account.

Goal State

Keep dev-dots a single, well-maintained multipurpose container that stays current with tooling updates and remains easy to extend for any project type. The focus is depth and quality over breadth of profiles:

• Keep shell/editor defaults portable and easy to override
• Make every session AI-collaboration friendly by default
• Preserve reproducibility with minimal manual machine setup

Slidev

To present from inside the container, run:

npm run dev -- --remote

This exposes the Slidev dev server so you can access it from outside the container. Port 3030 is forwarded by default via devcontainer.json.