Can I get codespaces to be created by AI?

[kaihendry]

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And how do I make it so that repo is initialised by a devcontainer.json like:

{
    "image": "mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/base:ubuntu",
    "features": {
        "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/aws-cli:1": {},
        "ghcr.io/devcontainers-extra/features/ripgrep:1": {},
        "ghcr.io/devcontainers-extra/features/fd:1": {},
        "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/github-cli:1": {},
        "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/node:1": {},
        "ghcr.io/devcontainers-contrib/features/ruff:1": {},
        "ghcr.io/devcontainers-extra/features/uv:1": {},
        "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/git-lfs:1": {},
        "ghcr.io/devcontainers-extra/features/neovim-apt-get:1": {},
        "ghcr.io/devcontainers-extra/features/aws-cdk:2": {},
        "ghcr.io/devcontainers-extra/features/actionlint:1": {}
    },
    "customizations": {
        "vscode": {
            "extensions": [
                "ms-python.python",
                "charliermarsh.ruff",
                "ms-vsliveshare.vsliveshare"
            ]
        }
    }
}

I need to do this again and again with several data products, so I am looking for a way to streamline this!

[saurav178]

You don’t “convert” an existing repo into a dev-container repo.
You just add the devcontainer setup inside the repo.
VS Code and GitHub Codespaces detect it automatically.

Inside your repository root, create:

.devcontainer/

Inside it, create:
.devcontainer/devcontainer.json

Your provided config goes exactly here:
.devcontainer/devcontainer.json

{
"image": "mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/base:ubuntu",
"features": {
"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/aws-cli:1": {},
"ghcr.io/devcontainers-extra/features/ripgrep:1": {},
"ghcr.io/devcontainers-extra/features/fd:1": {},
"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/github-cli:1": {},
"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/node:1": {},
"ghcr.io/devcontainers-contrib/features/ruff:1": {},
"ghcr.io/devcontainers-extra/features/uv:1": {},
"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/git-lfs:1": {},
"ghcr.io/devcontainers-extra/features/neovim-apt-get:1": {},
"ghcr.io/devcontainers-extra/features/aws-cdk:2": {},
"ghcr.io/devcontainers-extra/features/actionlint:1": {}
},
"customizations": {
"vscode": {
"extensions": [
"ms-python.python",
"charliermarsh.ruff",
"ms-vsliveshare.vsliveshare"
]
}
}
}

[kaihendry]

I know that, but I find that process far too slow / cumbersome. I need to automate this!

[m-zeeshan-saeed]

Codespaces supports a feature recently added: you can open a Codespace directly from an issue and launch GitHub Copilot (in “agent mode”) inside it. That means you can have an AI assistant inspect the issue + repo context and start suggesting or generating code inside a fresh Codespace.
The GitHub Blog
+1

Because Codespaces environments are defined with configuration-as-code (via a devcontainer.json, Dockerfile, etc.), you could use an AI tool (or LLM prompt) to generate or suggest that configuration automatically. Once you commit that to your repo you or collaborators can spawn Codespaces on demand.

You can also combine AI code-generation tools with Codespaces: e.g. inside a Codespace (or right after you create it) an AI like Copilot can help you scaffold files, write boilerplate, refactor, etc

[kaihendry]

Can you link to the blog please?

[TechnicalDeveloper]

Short answer: AI can help you generate the devcontainer config, but it won’t magically spin up Codespaces for you. The actual creation still goes through GitHub (UI / CLI / API).

For what you’re trying to do (same devcontainer.json across lots of repos), you basically have three practical options:

---

1. Use a template repository (most straightforward)

Create one repo that only contains your dev setup, for example:

.devcontainer/
  devcontainer.json

with something like:

{
  "image": "mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/base:ubuntu",
  "features": {
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers-extra/features/aws-cli:1": {},
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers-extra/features/pipx:1": {},
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers-extra/features/fd:1": {},
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers-extra/features/github-cli:1": {},
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers-extra/features/node:1": {},
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers-contrib/features/ruff:1": {},
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers-extra/features/uv:1": {},
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers-extra/features/git-lfs:1": {},
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers-extra/features/neovim-apt-get:1": {},
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers-extra/features/aws-cdk:2": {},
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers-extra/features/actionlint:1": {}
  },
  "customizations": {
    "vscode": {
      "extensions": [
        "ms-python.python",
        "charliermarsh.ruff",
        "ms-vsliveshare.vsliveshare"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Then for every new data product:

1. Create a repo from that template.
2. Add your data/product-specific code on top.

Codespaces will automatically pick up .devcontainer/devcontainer.json when you open a Codespace on that repo.

---

2. Automate repo + devcontainer creation (scripting + AI)

If you really want an “AI-driven” flow, you can glue a few things together:

1. Write a small script (Python/bash) that:

   • calls an LLM (Copilot / OpenAI / etc.) with “I need a devcontainer for X stack”
   • writes the returned devcontainer.json into .devcontainer/
   • commits and pushes the repo.

2. Use gh codespace create or the GitHub REST API to actually create a Codespace for that repo.

So AI’s job is: generate the devcontainer config, your script’s job is: create repo + push + call Codespaces API.

---

3. “Global” developer environment via dotfiles

If most of what you’re doing is tooling (CLI, aliases, etc.), you can also:

• put common setup in a dotfiles repo (e.g. install aws-cli, gh, etc.),
• let Codespaces auto-bootstrap from that repo,
• keep only the genuinely project-specific bits in devcontainer.json.

This doesn’t fully replace the devcontainer, but it cuts down how much you repeat.

[kaihendry]

I don't have a problem defining my devcontainer, I have a problem to spin them up quickly in an automated way.

[kaihendry]

Building the devcontainer is too slow for me. Is there any way to pre-make the devcontainer images?