title: Dev Containers - Zed description: Open projects in dev containers with Zed. Reproducible development environments using devcontainer.json configuration. #

Dev Containers #

Dev Containers provide a consistent, reproducible development environment by defining your project's dependencies, tools, and settings in a container configuration.

If your repository includes a .devcontainer/devcontainer.json file, Zed can open a project inside a development container.

Requirements #

Docker or Podman must be installed and available in your PATH. If you use podman, you must set the use_podman setting in your Zed settings.json to true.
Your project must contain a .devcontainer/devcontainer.json directory/file.

By default Zed builds dev container images with BuildKit when the docker buildx plugin is available. If your Docker-compatible engine lacks an integrated BuildKit (for example, Apple Container accessed through a Docker-API bridge), set "dev_container_use_buildkit": false in your settings.json to use the classic Docker builder instead.

Using Dev Containers in Zed #

Automatic prompt #

When you open a project that contains the .devcontainer/devcontainer.json directory/file, Zed will display a prompt asking whether to open the project inside the dev container. Choosing "Open in Container" will:

Build the dev container image (if needed).
Launch the container.
Reopen the project connected to the container environment.

Manual open #

If you dismiss the prompt or want to reopen the project inside a container later, you can use Zed's command palette to run the "Project: Open Remote" command and select the option to open the project in a dev container. Alternatively, you can reach for the Remote Projects modal (through the {#kb projects::OpenRemote} binding) and choose the "Connect Dev Container" option.

Editing the dev container configuration #

If you modify .devcontainer/devcontainer.json, Zed does not currently rebuild or reload the container automatically. After changing configuration:

Stop or kill the existing container manually (e.g., via docker kill <container>).
Reopen the project in the container.

Working in a Dev Container #

Once connected, Zed operates inside the container environment for tasks, terminals, and language servers. Files are linked from your workspace into the container according to the dev container specification.

Extensions #

You can specify extensions in .devcontainer/devcontainer.json under the "customizations" field like so:

{
  ...
  "customizations": {
    "zed": {
      "extensions": ["vue", "ruby"],
    },
    "vscode": {
      ...
    },
    "codespaces": {
      ...
    },
  }
}

Note that extensions load for the Zed session, so these extensions will exist on your local Zed instances as well.

Known Limitations #

Note: This feature is still in development.

Configuration changes: Updates to devcontainer.json do not trigger automatic rebuilds or reloads; containers must be manually restarted.