๐ปDev Environment Setup
Set up your dev environment with dev containers for VS Code.
Code for Life (CFL) has set up their development environment within dev containers for VS Code. In short, dev containers are containerised virtual machines that come preinstalled with all the software and tools necessary for you to develop.
VS Code's dev containers allow us to setup your dev environment for you so you don't have to worry about doing it yourself. Furthermore, anytime we make a change to our dev environment, we will git-push the latest dev container to the workspace repo. Then, you can just simply git-pull the latest dev container and rebuild it.
Follow the below steps to setup the CFL workspace in a dev container.
1. Create a GitHub account
If you don't already have a GitHub account, sign up for GitHub.
2. Install and set up Git
Git is required to sync your local code changes with our online Git repos.
Follow Git's installation instructions and set up your Git user.
We recommend you use the same username and email you used to create your GitHub account.
git config --global user.name "John Doe"git config --global user.email "[email protected]"3. Install Docker Engine
Docker Engine is required to build and run dev containers.
Note that Docker Desktop is an app built around Docker Engine that provides a user interface and additional tools. You only need Docker Engine.
If you're using an Ocado-issued laptop, DO NOT install Docker Desktop - it's licensed software requiring a paid subscription.
Follow the steps to install Docker Engine depending on your computer's operating system.
Windows
For an easier setup experience, we recommend you create a Linux environment using WSL 2 and install the Ubuntu distro. You can then follow the simpler Linux steps instead.
Follow the steps to download and install Docker Engine's server and client binaries.
macOS
We recommend running the following commands. Alternatively, you can install Docker Engine's client binaries.
Install Docker Engine and Colima.
Start Colima and use it as Docker's context.
Test Docker is working.
Linux
Check the supported platforms to find your Linux distro. If you're using Ubuntu, follow these steps.
4. Install the Docker Compose plugin
The Docker Compose plugin is required as our dev container runs multiple containers for different tools.
Follow the steps to install the plugin depending on your computer's operating system.
Windows
There's no way to install the plugin unless you install Docker Desktop. If you're using an Ocado-issued laptop, DO NOT install Docker Desktop - it's licensed software requiring a paid subscription.
We recommend you create a Linux environment using WSL 2 and install the Ubuntu distro. You can then follow the Linux steps instead.
macOS
We recommend installing the plugin via Homebrew.
Alternatively, you can install the plugin manually.
Linux
Follow these steps to install the plugin using the repository. Alternatively, you can install it manually.
5. Install VS Code
Our dev containers are specifically defined to work within the VS Code IDE.
6. Install the Dev Containers extension in VS Code
Open the Extensions tab (Ctrl+Shift+X) in VS Code.
Search for the "Dev Containers" extension and install it.
7. Fork and clone the CFL workspace
You'll need to clone our workspace in a folder of your choosing on your local machine. How you do so will depend on whether you're an external or internal contributor
External Contributor
This option is for you if you're NOT a CFL team member.
Fork (see how) our workspace on GitHub (only the main branch) into your personal GitHub account and then clone your fork:
Internal Contributor
This option is for you ONLY if you're a CFL team member.
Clone the workspace and recursively clone each repo/submodule within the workspace:
8. Change line endings (Windows only)
If you're using Windows as your OS, then you'll need to change the line endings in your cloned workspace before opening the dev container.
Open a Git Bash terminal in the directory of your cloned workspace.
Configure the workspace to use LF as the EOL control character.
Remove all the files tracked by Git in the workspace.
Re-download the files. They should now have LF endings.
To confirm that the files have LF endings, open any file in the workspace in VS Code and look at the bottom right (in the toolbar). You should see "LF" (not "CRLF").
9. Open the CFL workspace in a Dev Container
In VS Code, open the command palette (Ctrl+Shift+P or go to View > Command Palette...).
Search for the command: ">Dev Containers: Open Workspace in Container..." and select it.
Make sure Docker Engine is running before working with dev containers.
Select the codeforlife.code-workspace file in your local codeforlife-workspace folder.
VS Code will now begin building your dev container. If you wish to see the output of the build as it is happening, click the following prompt in the bottom-right:
At some point, VS Code will reload the window so that it may re-open the code-workspace within the dev container.
Known issues
Fails to pull docker/dockerfile
If the build fails with an error message similar to:
Run this command before opening/building the dev container.
Images or dependencies fail to install
If you get build errors stating that some images or dependencies failed to install, it could be due to any VPN / DDoS mitigation software you might have running on your machine or network. Try disabling those temporarily to see if it helps.
10. Set up your CFL workspace
If you cloned the workspace as an internal contributor, you should skip this step by entering "n" (no) when the setup script asks if you would like to run the optional steps:
While the workspace is open in VS Code you'll notice there are a few empty folders. These are the repos contained within the workspace, each of which will also need to be forked and cloned (like how you forked and cloned the workspace).
To help you quickly fork and clone the many repos contained within our workspace, we've created a script that runs automatically when you start the workspace's dev container. You'll be prompted to sign into GitHub in VS Code's terminal window.
Follow the on-screen instructions in the terminal. Once you've successfully authenticated with GitHub, each repo within the workspace should be forked and cloned; the once empty folders should now be populated.
11. Enable source control
With the workspace folder open in VS Code, open the Source Control tab (Ctrl+Shift+G).
Click "Manage Unsafe Repositories". Then, select the one or more CFL repos shown in the drop-down.
12. Set up the repo's virtual environment
In a new terminal in VS Code, run the following command:
This will install all the dependencies the repo requires for the code to run. Then, activate the virtual environment by running:
Finally, to start working on the project locally, run:
This script will:
run the project's database migrations,
collect the static files,
and start a Django server.
Once the script has finished running, you'll be able to run and view the project locally in your browser by going to localhost:8000.
Enjoy working on the project!
13. Exiting the Dev Container
There are a few different ways you can stop running your VS Code window in a dev container and run it on your local machine instead.
Close the VS Code window and open a new window.
Open a local folder in the existing VS Code window ([Ctrl+K Ctrl+O] or go to
File > Open Folder...).Reopen the current folder locally by either:
Opening the command palette (Ctrl+Shift+P or go to
View > Command Palette...) and typing ">Dev Containers: Reopen Folder Locally".Clicking the Dev Container toolbox in the bottom-left of your VS Code window and selecting
Reopen Folder Locally.
Close the connection to the dev container by either:
Opening the command palette (Ctrl+Shift+P or go to
View > Command Palette...) and typing ">Remote: Close Remote Connection".Clicking the Dev Container toolbox in the bottom-left of your VS Code window and selecting
Close Remote Connection.
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