Dev Container CLI

A Dev Container is available as a CLI tool that you can download as ZIP archive containing the JAR file and run a Dev Container from the terminal.

Prerequisites

Before starting to configure the Dev Container CLI, ensure the following prerequisites are met:

The ZIP distribution requires JDK 17 or newer to be installed.
The project for which you want to build a Dev Container must contain a .devcontainer directory with devcontainer.json file.

Download and unpack the .zip file using the following command:
curl -f -L -o intellij-devcontainers-cli.zip "https://jb.gg/intellij-devcontainers-cli.zip/latest"
Check the following example link to the deployed distribution:
https://download.jetbrains.com/resources/intellij/dev-containers/243.19420.43/intellij-devcontainers-cli.zip
In the terminal, locate the ijcdev script file.
Run the script from the current directory using the following command:
./ijdevc
The ijdevc script file contains the following parameters:
- SOURCE: a directory to a project where the devcontainer.json file is located.
- config: defines a path to a devcontainer.json file.
- format: structures the output for clearer representation.

Execute the script with the config parameter and a local path to the project's devcontainer.json file.
Run the following command:
./ijdevc --config /full/path/to/project/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json /full/path/to/project
Check the following example:
./ijdevc --config /Users/jetbrains/spring-petclinic/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json /Users/jetbrains/spring-petclinic
The output of the script is the built of the Dev Container that is portable and can be distributed to vendors. It is also displayed in the IDE.

Last modified: 03 June 2025