microsoft / microsoft/vscode-remote-release
Extensions defined in devcontainer.json are not auto-installing
@chrmarti is already working on this.
Since Mar 19, 2026.
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Description
- VSCode Version: latest from deb from official site (tried both fresh Code and Code Insiders)
- Local OS Version: KDE Neon User Edition latest
- Remote OS Version: Ubuntu Desktop 24.04 with latest updates
- Remote Extension/Connection Type: Dev Containers on remote server (via remote SSH): local Dev Containers;
Steps to Reproduce:
- Open empty project dir locally or on remote host
- Choose "Add Dev Container configuration files"
- Choose Docker outside of Docker Compose latest as feature
- After vscode creates devcontainers.json, add any local extension to it:
For example, default config vscode (I've tried 3 popular extensions one by one, MS vscode-containers and vscode-docker, and path-intellisense from C.Kohler)
{
"name": "Docker outside of Docker Compose",
"dockerComposeFile": "docker-compose.yml",
"service": "app",
"workspaceFolder": "/workspaces/${localWorkspaceFolderBasename}",
"remoteEnv": {
"LOCAL_WORKSPACE_FOLDER": "${localWorkspaceFolder}"
},
"features": {
"ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/docker-outside-of-docker:1": {
"version": "latest",
"enableNonRootDocker": "true",
"moby": "false"
}
},
"customizations": {
"vscode": {
"extensions": [
"christian-kohler.path-intellisense"
]
}
}
}
Dockerfile is
# Note: You can use any Debian/Ubuntu based image you want.
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/base:bullseye
And docker-compose.yml is
services:
app:
build:
context: .
dockerfile: Dockerfile
volumes:
# Forwards the local Docker socket to the container.
- /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker-host.sock
# Update this to wherever you want VS Code to mount the folder of your project
- ../..:/workspaces:cached
# Overrides default command so things don't shut down after the process ends.
entrypoint: /usr/local/share/docker-init.sh
command: sleep infinity
After rebuild wthout cache and reopen in devcontainer — an extension in Local Installed section yet, and it wants to "Install in Dev Container"... But it must to be installed after devcontainer started.
And when devcontainer already starting, Extension button on left panel always show update indicator, but nothing happened.
Only way to use extensions is manually install them into devcontainer via pressing button "Install in Dev Container...".
Does this issue occur when you try this locally?: Yes, reproducable on local and on remote host
Does this issue occur when you try this locally and all extensions are disabled?: I've tried this on fresh vscode without any 3rd party extensions (except those for testing, I've add in devcontainer.json only one tested extension at time in my experiments)
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Assessment
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