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Docker DX

The Docker DX (Developer Experience) Visual Studio Code extension enhances your Visual Studio Code experience with Docker-related development by adding rich editing features and vulnerability scanning.

Key features

• Dockerfile editing features: Code completion and syntax highlighting as well as build warnings and best-practice suggestions via BuildKit and Buildx.
• Dockerfile debugging features: Debug and step through a Dockerfile build with Buildx
• Compose editing features: Provides contextual code completion, reference navigation, and schema descriptions in hovers.
• Bake editing features: Includes code completion, variable navigation, and inline suggestions for generating targets based on your Dockerfile stages.
• Image vulnerability scanning (experimental): Flags references to container images with known vulnerabilities directly within Dockerfiles.

Requirements

The extension requires Docker Engine to be running. Install Docker Desktop on your machine and make sure the docker CLI is available in your system PATH.

This extension currently supports the following operating systems and architectures:

Operating system	Architectures
Windows	amd64, arm64
macOS	amd64, arm64
Linux	amd64, arm64
Alpine	amd64, arm64

If you are on an unsupported system, let us know of your interest in this extension so we can prioritize the work accordingly.

Feature overview

Editing Dockerfiles

You can get linting checks from BuildKit and BuildX when editing your Dockerfiles.

Any references to images with vulnerabilities are also flagged. This is an experimental feature and may change in the future. Refer to our FAQ.md to see how you can opt in or out of these warnings.

Errors are visible directly in your editor or you can look at them by opening up the Problems panel (<kbd>Ctrl+Shift+M</kbd> on Windows/Linux, <kbd>Shift+Command+M</kbd> on Mac).

Editing Compose files

Code completion support in the Docker DX extension goes beyond just the Compose schema. The Docker DX extension understands the contextual link between your Compose file and your Dockerfile.

Compose files can get pretty big and complicated when you start including other files. Docker DX lets you hover over a reference to quickly see how something is defined.

Editing Bake files

You can get code completion when editing your docker-bake.hcl file. You are also able to hover over variables and navigate around the file by jumping to a variable's definition or jumping to the build stage within a Dockerfile.

The extension provides inline suggestions to generate a Bake target to correspond to each build stage in your Dockerfile.

Build Debugging

Dockerfile builds can be stepped through in debug mode with the Debug Adapter Protocol implementation in Buildx. Open DEBUGGING.md to learn about this feature and what its requirements are.

For information about Buildx and the Debug Adapter Protocol, go here. If you have any bugs, feature requests, or feedback about Buildx's support for Debug Adapter Protocol, please report them here.

Builds

GitHub Actions builds eight .vsix files - one for each platform combination (Windows, macOS, Linux, Alpine Linux x amd64/arm64).

Note: The language server binary from these builds are not signed and/or notarized. You may encounter issues when using .vsix files from this repository as your operating system may refuse to open an unsigned binary.

Development

To develop this extension, you should first make sure you have the following extensions installed:

• Prettier - Code formatter
• TypeScript + Webpack Problem Matchers

To debug the VS Code extension, clone this repository and then run npm install. This will download a binary of the Docker Language Server to the bin folder. If you would like to test your own custom build of the language server, simply replace the file in the bin folder with your own binary.

Debugging both the extension and language server…