Show HN: Devbox – Ephemeral containers for clean dev environments

devbox.ar0.eu

3 points

8 months ago

I've been frustrated with dependency hell and clutter on my VPS from dev, so I built Devbox: a lightweight, open-source CLI tool that spins up isolated development environments using Docker. Each project runs in its own container, but your code stays in simple flat folders on the host machine—no messing with volumes or sync issues. Environments are disposable, so you can nuke and recreate them without losing your work.

Key features:

- Instant setup: `devbox init my-project` and you're in a fresh env with `devbox shell`.

- Configurable via JSON: Define packages, services, and more in a `devbox.json` file. Share it in your repo for reproducible setups—teammates just run `devbox up`.

- Docker-in-Docker by default: Build and run containers inside your env without extra config.

- Host-friendly: Edit code directly on your machine; the container handles the runtime.

- Templates for quick starts: Built-ins for Python, Node.js, Go, web dev, etc.

- Advanced options: Port mapping, env vars, resource limits, and even mounting your dotfiles.

It's FOSS (MIT license), Linux-focused (Debian/Ubuntu, or WSL2 on Windows), and super easy to install: `curl -fsSL https://devbox.ar0.eu/install.sh | bash`.

Check out the launch page and docs at https://devbox.ar0.eu, or the repo at https://github.com/itzCozi/devbox. I'd love some feedback, stars, or contributions to help grow this into a solid community tool!

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