Customizing the Development Container

This guide covers how to extend the Sol3 SDK development container with custom tools and configuration while preserving SDK upgradability.

Prerequisites

Completed Getting Started setup
Basic understanding of Development Container Architecture

Adding Custom Packages

The SDK example uses a multi-stage Docker build, the first stage of which builds the development container.

Edit the following section of the Dockerfile to add custom packages to the devcontainer:

# ---------------------- BEGIN CUSTOMIZATION ---------------------------------
# Uncomment this section to further customize the devcontainer.
# ...
# ----------------------- END CUSTOMIZATION ----------------------------------

Adding Environment Variables

Add project-specific environment variables directly to the Dockerfile:

# ---------------------- BEGIN CUSTOMIZATION ---------------------------------
# Uncomment this section to further customize the devcontainer.
# ...

ENV CUSTOM_TOOL_PATH /opt/my-tool/bin

# ----------------------- END CUSTOMIZATION ----------------------------------

or in .devcontainer/devcontainer.json:

{
  "containerEnv": {
    "CUSTOM_TOOL_PATH": "/opt/my-tool/bin"
  }
}

Adding Bind Mounts

Mount additional host directories by modifying .devcontainer/devcontainer.json:

{
  "mounts": [
    "source=${HOME}/data,target=/workspace/data,type=bind",
    "source=${HOME}/config,target=/workspace/config,type=bind"
  ]
}

Hardware Device Access

Add access to custom hardware devices by modifying .devcontainer/devcontainer.json:

{
  "runArgs": ["--device=/dev/custom-device", "--device=/dev/ttyUSB0"]
}

VS Code Extensions

Add project-specific VS Code extensions by modifying .devcontainer/devcontainer.json:

{
  "customizations": {
    "vscode": {
      "extensions": [
        "ms-vscode.cpptools-extension-pack",
        "your-custom-extension-id"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Rebuilding the Container

After making changes to the Dockerfile or .devcontainer/devcontainer.json:

VS Code:

Open Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P)
Select “Dev Containers: Rebuild Container”

Command Line:

# Stop existing container
devcontainer down --workspace-folder .

# Rebuild and start with changes
devcontainer up --workspace-folder . --remove-existing-container

The container will rebuild with your custom configuration while preserving SDK functionality.