Deepworkplan Addon Devcontainer

DeepWorkPlan — Devcontainer Addon

Add a reproducible, isolated dev container to the target repo so any human or AI agent gets the same environment, with AI-CLI auth that survives rebuilds. This is the methodology's first opt-in addon — it is never required for a repo to be AI-first.

> ## The rule that overrides everything: REASON about the repo, then generate > > ~85% of every Dailybot devcontainer is identical — that common skeleton is > the stable part you carry forward. ~15% is repo-specific — base image, user, > workspaceFolder, supporting services, ports, secrets — and that part you > reason out from the target repo's actual stack, never by copying one > reference repo. The one near-verbatim exception is the AI-CLI persistence > entrypoint (templates/entrypoint.md): it is stable enough to copy with only > the home-path / user adjusted.

Read these first (all relative inside the skill)

• [SPEC.md](SPEC.md) — the normative (RFC-2119) contract: common skeleton,

per-repo reasoning checklist, project-identity precedence, validation rule, public-OSS variant.

• [templates/presets.md](templates/presets.md) — the 7 reasoning presets

(node-web, node-service, node-lambda, python-service, python-cli-oss, static-site, orchestrator-hub). Match one as a starting checklist, then verify every assumption against the real repo — detected reality wins.

• The other templates/*.md — reasoning guides for each file you generate.
• ../README.md — the addon mechanism (opt-in, reconcile-don't-clobber, contract).

When this runs

• From onboard Phase 7b — after the core AI-first scaffolding, onboard

offers this addon; if accepted it reads this SKILL and runs the flow below.

• Directly — /deepworkplan-addon-devcontainer on an already-onboarded repo

to add or reconcile a devcontainer.

The flow

Step 0 — Consent + reconcile check

1. Confirm the developer wants a devcontainer (skip silently if declined — the

repo stays baseline-conformant).

1. Detect existing setup. Look for .devcontainer/, docker/,

docker-compose.{yml,yaml}, a Dockerfile. If any exist, you are in reconcile mode: you MUST preserve working values and MUST NOT overwrite or delete files without explicit approval (see SPEC §Reconcile).

Step 1 — Reason about the stack (reuse onboard's RECON)

If onboard already produced .dwp/onboard/RECON.md, read it. Otherwise detect: language/runtime, package manager (from the lockfile that exists), build/test/ lint/typecheck commands, supporting services implied by the app's dependencies (DB / cache / queue / emulators), exposed ports, and whether the repo is public (OSS) or private. Pick the matching preset from templates/presets.md as a checklist.

Step 2 — Decide the reasoned ~15% (SPEC §3 checklist)

• Base image + user + workspaceFolder from the language (Node vs Python; a

node vs created dev-user; /app vs /workspace vs /code/js).

• Supporting services from real dependencies — only those the app actually

uses (postgres / pgvector / redis / mailpit / dynamodb / localstack / chromium).

• Ports, secrets handling (public vs private), multi-stage build need,

locales, extra CLIs (AWS, Lighthouse/chromium).

Step 3 — Generate / reconcile the files

Using the templates, produce or reconcile: .devcontainer/devcontainer.json, docker/local/docker-compose.{yaml,yml}, docker/local/{service}/Dockerfile, docker/local/{service}/entrypoint.sh (the near-verbatim AI-CLI persistence piece), docker/custom_commands.sh, and — for public repos — .dockerignore + a secret-free .env.example. Always: keep the common skeleton (AI-CLI persistence volumes, dailybot-project-network, DOCKER_DEV_ENV=vscode→sleep infinity, codecheck/check/fix/test).

Step 4 — Project identity

Set identity by the precedence in SPEC §4 (.dailybot/profile.json → DAILYBOT_PROJECT_NAME → devcontainer.json name). Do not invent a new name if one already resolves.

Step 5 — Validate (SPEC §6)

Run the validation checklist. Report what was created/reconciled, the chosen base image + services + ports, identity source, and any deferred items. If a container build/smoke test cannot run here, say why (don't silently skip).

Failure-mode guardrails

• Never required, never blocking. If the developer declines, stop cleanly.
• No clobber. Existing devcontainer/docker files are reconciled or

backed-up-and-asked, never silently overwritten.

• No phantom services. Only add a service the app actually depends on.
• No secrets in images or in .env.example — especially for public repos.
• Reason wins over preset. If the preset and the real repo disagree,

re-derive from the repo.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: DailybotHQ
• Source: DailybotHQ/deepworkplan-skill
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://deepworkplan.com/

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.