ghūl in a dev container

May 25, 2026 · View on GitHub

Minimal setup to use the ghūl compiler inside a VS Code Dev Container or a GitHub Codespace.

1. Dev container

.devcontainer/devcontainer.json:

{
    "image": "mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/dotnet:8.0",
    "postCreateCommand": "dotnet tool restore",
    "customizations": {
        "vscode": {
            "extensions": ["degory.ghul"]
        }
    }
}

Any image with the .NET 8 SDK on the PATH will do — this is just the standard Microsoft one. postCreateCommand restores the compiler from the local tool manifest on first container start.

2. Tool manifest

If your project doesn't already have a .NET tool manifest, create one and add the compiler:

dotnet new tool-manifest
dotnet tool install ghul.compiler

That produces .config/dotnet-tools.json:

{
    "version": 1,
    "isRoot": true,
    "tools": {
        "ghul.compiler": {
            "version": "1.0.48",
            "commands": ["ghul-compiler"]
        }
    }
}

Commit both files. Anyone opening the project in the container — locally with the VS Code Dev Containers extension, or in a GitHub Codespace — gets the compiler restored automatically.

See also