beckitrue / devpod-neovim

Setting up a devpod running neovim

devpod-neovim

This is a devpod for neovim Proof of Concept. It's using the open source DevPod development environment running on Docker. There are other provider options for running DevPod, such as using Kubernetes, or cloud providers but I'm using Docker for this PoC.

I can definitely see the value of having a standard development environment that is portable. This would be great for use in training courses or for onboarding new developers.

The Goal of the PoC

I want to see if configuring a devpod is worth the time it takes to configure one or more environments. Worst case is that I'll learn something new about configuring development environments. Best case is that I'll have a consistent development environment that I can use on any machine.

Demo

You can see the demo of the devpod-neovim in action by clicking on the image below:

Approach

I orginally tried configuring the devpod by loading the packages after the devpod was created and started. That seemed rather useless since I wasn't really saving any time. I didn't know anything about the devcontainer.json spec at the time, and that's the key to getting the efficiency and consistency that I want. IDE as Code basically.

Then, I saw this video on how to use the devcontainer.json spec with DevPod and realized that I could create a custom devpod using Features to install the packages. Features aren't available for all the packages that I wanted to use. That left me to install the remaining packages manually after logging into the devpod.

There are some issues that surfaced here, such as using apt install neovim Feature installs an old version of neovim that doesn't work with my Lazy configuration. However, there is a Feature that uses the source code instead of apt, and that one works.

Using these Features makes wonder how secure they are, which is always a question about community-supported software. Probably best to check out the source code before using them in a production environment.

The DevPod

I'm testing using the same dotfiles that I use on my local machine. I didn't make any changes since this is a PoC. But, for a real use case I would have dotfiles for the specific environment.

For example, this devpod is using a go image, but in my neovim configration files I load Python and Node LSPs. This results in a (non-fatal) error message when running neovim on this devpod.

Try It Out

You can try out the same configuration that I have by following the instructions below:

1. Install DevPod for your environment
2. Install the DevPod CLI
3. Clone this repo
4. Start Docker
5. From the repo directory, run devpod up devpod-neovim . --provider docker --dotfiles https://github.com/beckitrue/dotfiles
6. Log into the devpod ssh devpod-neovim.devpod

Packages Installed

These packages are installed using the devcontainer.json file:

• neovim - using the Feature that uses the source code
• stow - for managing dotfiles
• fzf - fuzzy finder
• ripgrep - faster than grep
• starship - shell prompt
• tmux - terminal multiplexer

Manual Installations

I installed the dotfiles manually because I don't have an install script. That's something to do in the future. I used stow to manage the dotfiles after logging into the devpod.

1. From the ~/dotfiles directory, run stow --target ~/.config .

The following packages need to be installed manually after logging into the devpod:

• fd-find - using it as part of the default command for fzf

1. sudo apt install fd-find
2. mkdir ~/.local/bin
3. ln -s $(which fdfind) ~/.local/bin/fd

• bat - for syntax highlighting

1. sudo apt install bat
2. ln -s $(which batcat) ~/.local/bin/bat

Usage

1. Run nvim to start neovim
2. Logout by typing exit
3. Stop the devpod after logging out by running devpod stop devpod-neovim

Configuration Changes

You can change the .devpod/devcontainer.json file to add or remove packages. Run devpod up devpod-neovim --recreate after making changes to the devcontainer.json file.

What I've Learned

• I liked working with the devcontainer.json file and the devpod cli better than the DevPod UI. I found it easier to understand.
• Neovim in the DevPod was just like running from my local machine. I didn't notice any difference.
• I can see the value of having a standard development environment that is portable. This would be great for use in training courses or for onboarding new developers.
• I need to do a bit more to complete the configuration like installing the dotfiles and setting up the environment variables.
• I would like to experiment some more with the devcontainer.json file to see if I can get the devpod to load all the packages that I need.
• I suspect that I would need to write a custom Feature to install some of the packages that I need.
• I'd like to experiment with some other DevPod providers, such as Kubernetes, and AWS.