Dev Containers

Ansible development works best when the editor, terminal, linters, and Python environment share one container image. This guide covers three related jobs:

1. Using a Dev Container for day-to-day Ansible work
2. Adding a .devcontainer/ config to a project (via ansible-creator)
3. Layering ansible-dev-tools onto an Execution Environment (EE) so that EE can be the Dev Container image

The Ansible extension follows ADR-003: EE-based development uses Dev Containers, not docker exec / podman exec routing.

Prerequisites

• Dev Containers extension (ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers)
• Podman or Docker
• ansible-creator (included with ansible-dev-tools)

Using a Dev Container

1. Open your project folder in VS Code or a compatible editor.
2. Ensure the project has a .devcontainer/ directory (see Add a Dev Container file below).
3. Press Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P → Dev Containers: Reopen in Container.
4. The editor reconnects inside the container. The Ansible extension activates against the container’s Python environment and collections.

Creator scaffolds Docker and Podman variants under .devcontainer/. Pick the variant that matches your engine, or use the root devcontainer.json when present.

Podman path for GUI-launched editors

Apps started from the Dock/Start menu often miss shell PATH. Prefer an absolute dev.containers.dockerPath:

{
  "dev.containers.dockerPath": "/opt/podman/bin/podman"
}

On Linux the binary is often /usr/bin/podman. Confirm with command -v podman.

Add a Dev Container file

Use ansible-creator as the source of truth for scaffolding (same templates as ansible-creator’s common devcontainer resources).

CLI

ansible-creator add resource devcontainer /path/to/project --image <image>

--image accepts any container image reference (for example an EE tag, or ghcr.io/ansible/community-ansible-dev-tools:latest). Defaults to auto when omitted.

Creator tree / form

In the Ansible sidebar, open Creator → Add → devcontainer, fill in path and image, then run.

MCP

ac_add_res_devc({
  "path": "/path/to/project",
  "image": "ghcr.io/ansible/community-ansible-dev-tools:latest"
})

From an Execution Environment in the sidebar

Right-click an image under Execution Environments → Add Dev Container. That opens the Creator form with --image set to the selected EE.

Generated layouts typically include Docker and Podman devcontainer.json files with containers-in-containers (C-in-C) friendly runArgs (fuse device, SYS_ADMIN, seccomp/apparmor settings). Those match the patterns used by ansible-dev-tools.

Add ansible-dev-tools to an EE

Most production EEs ship Ansible and collections but not the full developer toolkit (ansible-lint, ansible-creator, molecule, and so on). Layer ansible-dev-tools before using the EE as a Dev Container image.

Option A — Bake into execution-environment.yml

---
version: 3

images:
  base_image:
    name: quay.io/ansible/ansible-runner:latest

dependencies:
  python_interpreter:
    package_system: python3.11
  python:
    - ansible-dev-tools
  galaxy:
    collections:
      - name: ansible.netcommon

ansible-builder build -f execution-environment.yml -t my-ee-with-devtools:latest

Then scaffold with --image my-ee-with-devtools:latest.

Option B — Outer Containerfile on an existing EE

When you cannot rebuild the EE definition, write an outer Containerfile that layers tools on top:

FROM registry.redhat.io/ansible-automation-platform/ee-supported-rhel9:latest

USER root
RUN pip3 install --no-cache-dir ansible-dev-tools
USER 1000

Build it:

Podman

podman build -t my-ee-with-devtools:latest -f Containerfile .

Docker

docker build -t my-ee-with-devtools:latest -f Containerfile .

Pass the tagged image to creator:

ansible-creator add resource devcontainer . --image my-ee-with-devtools:latest

Alternatively keep the Containerfile under .devcontainer/ and point devcontainer.json at it with "build": { "dockerfile": "Containerfile" } instead of "image".

Inspect before you layer

Use the Execution Environments tree (or MCP list_execution_environments / get_ee_details) to see whether ansible-dev-tools is already present.

Common images

Image	Role
ghcr.io/ansible/community-ansible-dev-tools:latest	Ready-made community ADT image
registry.redhat.io/ansible-automation-platform/ee-supported-rhel9:latest	Supported AAP EE (layer ADT if needed)
registry.redhat.io/ansible-automation-platform/ee-minimal-rhel9:latest	Minimal EE (layer ADT for interactive work)
Your custom EE	Prefer baking ADT into the EE definition

Troubleshooting

docker info / reopen failures with Podman

Set absolute dev.containers.dockerPath as above, reload the window, retry Reopen in Container.

SSH keys inside the container

Prefer SSH agent forwarding on the host (ssh-add) — Dev Containers forwards the agent. Avoid bind-mounting ~/.ssh.

Tools missing after reopen

The image likely lacks ansible-dev-tools. Use Option A or B, or install temporarily with pip install ansible-dev-tools inside the running container.

Related

• Migrating from EE mode — map old ansible.executionEnvironment.* settings
• ansible-creator — scaffolding reference
• VS Code extension — sidebar views and Creator form
• Red Hat Dev Spaces — cloud workspaces with similar images