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Advanced Dev Container Usage

docs/devcontainer/advanced.md

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Advanced Dev Container Usage

This guide covers advanced workflows and power user features for managing multiple containers, backups, and complex development scenarios.

Looking to customize your devcontainer? See the Customization Guide for dotfiles, VS Code settings, extensions, and performance tuning.

Table of Contents

Working with Multiple Containers

Running Multiple Instances

You can run multiple devcontainers for different branches:

bash
# Clone same repo with different volume names
Dev Containers: Clone Repository in Named Container Volume...
# Volume 1: mongo-main
# Volume 2: mongo-feature-branch
# Volume 3: mongo-bugfix

Each gets its own:

  • Container instance
  • Cache volume
  • Python venv

Switch between them:

  • VS Code → File → Recent
  • Select the container you want

EngFlow Telemetry

The devcontainer automatically reports metadata to EngFlow via Bazel keywords:

bash
# These are added automatically in Dockerfile and postCreateCommand
common --bes_keywords=devcontainer:use=true
common --bes_keywords=devcontainer:image=<image_tag>
common --bes_keywords=devcontainer:docker_server_platform=<platform>

This helps the team understand devcontainer adoption and troubleshoot issues.

Backup and Migration

Backing Up Volumes

bash
# Backup a volume to tarball
docker run --rm \
  -v engflow_auth:/data \
  -v $(pwd):/backup \
  ubuntu tar czf /backup/engflow_auth_backup.tar.gz -C /data .

# Backup all MongoDB dev volumes
for vol in engflow_auth mongo-cache mongo-python3-venv; do
  docker run --rm \
    -v $vol:/data \
    -v $(pwd):/backup \
    ubuntu tar czf /backup/${vol}_backup.tar.gz -C /data .
done

Restoring Volumes

bash
# Create volume
docker volume create engflow_auth

# Restore from backup
docker run --rm \
  -v engflow_auth:/data \
  -v $(pwd):/backup \
  ubuntu tar xzf /backup/engflow_auth_backup.tar.gz -C /data

Migrating to New Machine

Option 1: Export and Import Volumes

On old machine:

bash
# Backup volumes (see above)
# Copy .tar.gz files to new machine

On new machine:

bash
# Restore volumes (see above)
# Clone repository and open devcontainer

Option 2: Use Docker Save/Load

bash
# Old machine: Save container image
docker save -o mongo-devcontainer.tar <image_id>

# New machine: Load image
docker load -i mongo-devcontainer.tar

Development Workflows

Debugging Workflow

With GDB:

bash
# Build with debug symbols
bazel build --config=dbg install-mongod

# Run with GDB
gdb bazel-bin/install-mongod/bin/mongod
(gdb) run --dbpath /data/db
(gdb) break my_function
(gdb) continue

Tips and Tricks

Quick Commands

bash
# Rebuild devcontainer from terminal
# Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+P → "Dev Containers: Rebuild Container"

# Attach to running container
docker exec -it <container_name> /bin/bash

# Copy compile_commands.json to host (for external IDE)
docker cp <container_id>:/workspaces/mongo/compile_commands.json ~/Desktop/

# Check what's using disk space
du -sh ~/.cache/*
du -sh /opt/mongodbtoolchain/*

See Also: