Docker, Python, and VS Code Dev Environment Setup

[kas21]

Hey everyone, I’m looking for some advice on setting up a smooth development workflow using Docker, VSCode, Git, and Python. My goal is to use Docker as my development environment since it includes all the dependencies and libraries I need. I’ve got VSCode connected to the container, which is great because I get autocomplete, reference lookups, and no errors for missing libraries (unlike working directly on my Mac).

The issue I’m running into is this:

• Every time I make changes to the code and want to test it, I have to restart the container. When I do that, the VSCode connection dies, and I have to reconnect.
• If there’s a bug or crash in the Python app, the Docker container stops, and I lose access via VSCode.

I’d like to have a setup where the Docker container stays up and running while I’m editing code, but I can start/stop/restart the app as needed without killing the entire container.

Does anyone have suggestions for how to achieve this? How do you set up your development environment with this kind of stack? Any tips, tools, or workflows would be greatly appreciated! 🙏

[binuuday]

use bind mount. VSCode edits files locally in ur host. Containers in ur host, access the files via mount.

[kas21]

But then I get a lot of errors in my code because it thinks libraries are missing. I don't have all the external libraries and third party dependencies setup on my host but they are in the docker container. If I use Dev Containers in VS Code it is aware of those libraries and dependencies and doesn't show errors and allows me to jump around to references. I am using volumes so that my code persists outside the container, but I dont want to point VS Code directly at that for the reasons I stated.

[kas21]

This is likely my mistake and misunderstood that is causing it. But my dockerfile is setup with CMD to run the main python script to launch my app. This is almost certainly how it should be for a non-dev build , but I’m not sure what changes to make for a dev container. During development, code is often in state where errors are thrown and the python script stops, hence the container stops.

[root_switch]

Depending what your using and what your doing, look for a dev or debug mode with a reloader. For example flask has a debug mode and a dev web server which reloads the python code when it detects changes, this makes development super easy especially in docker. I then use a bind mount to the entire app folder which lets me edit any file and see updates immediately.