Introduce devcontainer service container based development environment (#705)

[bedrich-schindler]

All development is now done inside the container named devcontainer which contains all necessary tools and dependencies. The devcontainer orchestrates other service containers behind the scenes via Docker-from-Docker. Other containers are implementation details and should not be accessed directly.

This is breaking change commit for development environment, so it is required to remove all the env files and start with fresh one.

There are two supported ways to access the development environment. Recommended way is to use Development Containers with an IDE. The alternative is to use Docker Compose directly. Local development is officially no more supported.

What more, documentation of contribution and CLAUDE.md was updated to match with the changes.

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Closes #705

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR migrates the repo’s development workflow to a single devcontainer-centric environment that orchestrates supporting service containers via Docker-from-Docker, updating scripts, Compose files, and contributor docs accordingly.

Changes:

• Add a devcontainer image (with wrapper CLIs) and new Compose layout (docker-compose.base.yml + generated docker-compose.yml).
• Introduce setup.sh + docker/build-docker-images.sh to generate config files and build images.
• Consolidate Playwright configuration into .env and update contribution/testing documentation.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 16 out of 25 changed files in this pull request and generated 12 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
tests/playwright/env/parseDotEnvFile.ts	Switch Playwright env parsing from .env.playwright to .env.
src/docs/contribute/testing-guidelines.md	Update test-running guidance for the new container-agnostic workflow.
src/docs/contribute/general-guidelines.md	Rewrite development environment docs around the devcontainer model.
setup.sh	New host-side setup script to generate .env and docker-compose.yml and build images.
package.json	Remove postinstall env-file bootstrap.
docker/react_ui_devcontainer_local/Dockerfile.dist	Add template for locally extending the devcontainer image.
docker/react_ui_devcontainer/files/usr/local/bin/*	Add wrapper scripts (npm/node/npx/mkdocs + AI tool shims) to route commands into service containers.
docker/react_ui_devcontainer/files/usr/local/bin/docker-entrypoint	Add entrypoint that runs fixuid and home ownership setup.
docker/react_ui_devcontainer/files/home/developer/shell-init.sh	Add SSH-agent forwarding blocking helper.
docker/react_ui_devcontainer/Dockerfile	Add new devcontainer image build.
docker/build-docker-images.sh	Add helper to build the devcontainer image and compose services.
docker-compose.yml.dist	Add dist template for generated docker-compose.yml.
docker-compose.yml	Remove old compose file (now generated).
docker-compose.base.yml	Add new base compose defining devcontainer + node/playwright/docs services.
CLAUDE.md	Update assistant guidance to assume devcontainer usage.
.gitignore	Ignore generated compose + local devcontainer customization dir; stop ignoring .env.playwright.
.env.playwright.dist	Remove dedicated Playwright env template.
.env.dist	Expand .env.dist to include compose/devcontainer + Playwright settings.
.devcontainer/devcontainer.json	Add Dev Container configuration to bootstrap via setup.sh.

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 16 out of 25 changed files in this pull request and generated 4 comments.

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[github-actions]

PR Preview Action v1.8.1
🚀 View preview at https://react-ui-org.github.io/react-ui/pr-preview/pr-706/
Built to branch gh-pages at 2026-04-21 12:25 UTC. Preview will be ready when the GitHub Pages deployment is complete.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 16 out of 25 changed files in this pull request and generated 6 comments.

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[Copilot]

setup.sh always rebuilds Docker images (docker/build-docker-images.sh) even when .env and docker-compose.yml already exist. In Dev Container workflows, initializeCommand can run frequently, so this can add significant repeated startup time. Consider making image builds conditional (e.g., only on first setup, or behind a flag like --build, or when relevant inputs change).

Suggested change

	# Build Docker images
	sh ./docker/build-docker-images.sh
	# Build Docker images (can be skipped by setting SKIP_DOCKER_BUILD=1)
	if [ "${SKIP_DOCKER_BUILD:-0}" != "1" ]; then
	echo "Building Docker images..."
	sh ./docker/build-docker-images.sh
	else
	echo "Skipping Docker image build because SKIP_DOCKER_BUILD=1"
	fi

[bedrich-schindler]

@adamkudrna, speaking of this. We can have a check as in WECL (internal project) that checks if image exists or not and skip it if yes. But in case the image changes, user may end up with out-of-date image. So for first phase of dev containers, I've left it without condition so it is build every time. BUT - image is cached, so it is quick as it is loaded from cache.

This is because we allow users to locally extend Dockerfile. It would not be possible without built Docker image.

There are way to solve it for sure, but I spent a lot of time on devcontainers so this is where I chose compromise.

[adamkudrna]

I agree with your approach. Docker images and container layers are cached, so it shouldn't take long to hook up the environment. And we prefer being up-to-date over fast startups, at least at the time being.

⚠️ BUT — there is something that is being downloaded each time the dev container starts. Its size is over 1 GB so it takes time. I am not sure what it is, maybe it's even JetBrains specific, but I'd try to fix it:

[bedrich-schindler]

I do not have answers yet. This is not an issue with VS Code and it is not happening in WebStorm as well. Do you use Mount Sources or Clone Sources?

Clone Sources is not working for me in any repo and JetBrains team stopped responding to my ticket. But Mount Sources in 2026.1 does not have the issue you mention.

My guess is that they are publishing IDE backends instantly, so it might get downloaded every time they publish new version of IDE Backend. But it is just guess. It is probably up to you, I am sorry.

I think that this is not related to this PR, so I suggest closing it here.

[bedrich-schindler]

@adamkudrna, any update?

[bedrich-schindler]

@adamkudrna, any update (again)?

[adamkudrna]

I have a lot of comments, but I really like it! You have done a great job 👏🏻.

[adamkudrna]

Here are a few points by Claude. I believe they are relevant.

(Once you rebase the branch, we can try asking Claude to do CR right here, just by adding the claude label.)

[bedrich-schindler]

@claude make code review.

[bedrich-schindler]

We spoke about this mode several times. I did my best to solve it fast and easy.

I added this section together with designated scripts. I tried to craft it with Claude as much as I can to be simple, covering as most cases as I can. Hope that documentation emphasize that this is for experienced users only and if it causes some problems, lets turn it off, restart container and continue without it.

But unless new deps are installed, it should work a pretty good and it also make sure on startup that your deps are up to date! Personally, I sometimes forget to update them and for example Playwright might result in incorrect snapshots.

[bedrich-schindler]

cc @adamkudrna @mbohal

[bedrich-schindler]

@adamkudrna, any update (again)?