Prerequisites and limitations

Prerequisites

• You have a project that contains the .devcontainer folder with the devcontainer.json file that describes the actual Dev Container.

  Currently, the code completion for the devcontainer.json file is limited. However, the following properties are available:

  • Build properties are supported.

  • General properties except otherPortsAttributes, remoteUser, updateRemoteUserUID, userEnvProbe, and customizations.

  • Docker compose properties are supported.

  • Lifecycle scripts are supported except waitFor.

  • In port attributes only label is supported.

  • The minimal host requirements are not supported.

  • Variables in devcontainer.json are supported.

• You have access to GitHub.

• You have the Git 2.25 version or later installed on your machine.

• You have a running SSH agent on your local machine.

  For example, on Windows, when you build a Dev Container from the GitHub repository using the SSH URL, the - git clone operation (cloning the repository sources to the Docker volume connected to the auxiliary container) cannot be performed without the running SSH agent.

• You have Docker installed on the machine where a Dev Container will reside.

• IntelliJ IDEA supports alternative Docker daemons such as Colima and Rancher Desktop (with the dockerd engine).

  If you encounter issues working with these Docker alternatives, submit a bug report to the issue tracker.

• The minimal backend requirement for mounting sources is the installed Docker. Docker alternatives such as Colima, Podman, or similar are not supported.

• Your Docker resources meet the minimal system requirements for the backend.

Additional prerequisites for a remote Dev Container

The following is a list of additional prerequisites for running your Dev Container on a remote server:

• Docker is installed on both the remote and local machines.

• The authorization to a server and Git is done through SSH keys. If you connect to a remote server using a password, generate the key-pair locally and then forward it to a remote server. For more details, refer to Sharing credentials.

• Some additional dependencies might be required for a Dev Container.

  If your Dev Container does not start, make sure you have the following dependencies in the OS of the Dev Container in the devcontainer.json file:

  • curl

  • unzip

  • ps

  • libxext

  • libxrender

  • libxtst

  • libxi

  • freetype

  • procps

  • gcompat

Dev Container limitations

• Dev Container images based on the Windows OS are not supported

• A scenario of creating a Dev Container from the running backend-client connection is not supported.

  For example, you connected to your remote project using the SSH connection and you've added a devcontainer.json. There is no option to start a Dev Container from the created devcontainer.json file.

However, you can use the following procedure as a workaround: