ClaudePod DevContainer

A curated development environment optimized for AI-powered coding with Claude Code. ClaudePod comes pre-configured with language servers, code intelligence tools, and official Anthropic plugins to streamline your development workflow.

Installation

Add ClaudePod to any project:

npx claudepod

This copies the .devcontainer/ directory to your project. Then open in VS Code and select "Reopen in Container".

Options

npx claudepod --force    # Overwrite existing .devcontainer directory
npx claudepod -f         # Short form

Alternative Install Methods

# Install globally
npm install -g claudepod
claudepod

# Run specific version
npx claudepod@1.2.3

Prerequisites

• Docker Desktop (or compatible container runtime like Podman)
• VS Code with the Dev Containers extension, or GitHub Codespaces
• Claude Code authentication - see Authentication section

Quick Start

1. Open in Container

   • VS Code: Open the folder, then select "Reopen in Container" from the command palette
   • Codespaces: Create a new codespace from this repository

2. Authenticate (first time only)

   claude

   Follow the prompts to authenticate via browser or API key.

3. Start Claude Code

   cc

Authentication

Claude Code supports multiple authentication methods. On first run, you'll be prompted to choose:

Browser Login (Recommended)

claude

Select "Login with browser" and complete authentication in your browser. This uses your Claude.ai account.

API Key

For programmatic access or environments without browsers:

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-..."
claude

Get an API key from console.anthropic.com.

Credential Persistence

Authentication credentials are stored in /workspaces/.claude/ and persist across container rebuilds.

For more options, see the Claude Code documentation.

GitHub CLI Authentication

GitHub CLI (gh) is pre-installed for repository operations like pushing code, creating pull requests, and accessing private repositories.

Interactive Login (Recommended)

gh auth login

Follow the prompts:

1. Select GitHub.com (or your enterprise server)
2. Choose your preferred protocol: HTTPS (recommended) or SSH
3. Authenticate via browser (easiest) or paste a personal access token

Token-Based Login

For automated setups or environments without browser access:

# From a file
gh auth login --with-token < ~/github-token.txt

# From environment variable
echo "$GITHUB_TOKEN" | gh auth login --with-token

Generate a token at github.com/settings/tokens with appropriate scopes (typically repo, read:org).

Verifying Authentication

gh auth status

Expected output shows your authenticated account and token scopes.

Credential Persistence

GitHub CLI credentials are automatically persisted across container rebuilds. The container is configured to store credentials in /workspaces/.gh/ (via GH_CONFIG_DIR), which is part of the bind-mounted workspace.

You only need to authenticate once. After running gh auth login, your credentials will survive container rebuilds and be available in future sessions.

Available Tools

Languages & Runtimes

Tool	Description
Python 3.14	Base language runtime
Node.js LTS	JavaScript runtime
TypeScript	Via Node.js

Package Managers

Tool	Description
uv	Fast Python package manager (pip alternative)
npm	Node.js package manager
pip / pipx	Python package installers

Development Tools

Tool	Description
gh	GitHub CLI for repository operations
docker	Container CLI (connects to host Docker)
git	Version control
jq	JSON processor
curl	HTTP client

Code Intelligence

Tool	Description
tree-sitter	AST parsing for JavaScript, TypeScript, Python
ast-grep	Structural code search and rewriting
Pyright	Python language server
TypeScript LSP	TypeScript/JavaScript language server

Claude Code Tools

Tool	Description
claude	Claude Code CLI
cc	Wrapper with auto-configuration
ccusage	Token usage analyzer
ccstatusline	Status line for sessions
claude-monitor	Real-time usage tracking

Using Claude Code

The cc Command

The cc command is a wrapper that:

• Creates a project-local .claude/ directory if missing
• Copies default configuration files
• Launches Claude Code with the project's system prompt

cc                    # Start Claude Code in current directory
cc "explain this"     # Start with an initial prompt

Direct CLI

For more control, use the claude command directly:

claude                        # Basic invocation
claude --help                 # View all options
claude --resume               # Resume previous session

Configuration

Environment Variables

Edit .devcontainer/.env to customize behavior:

Variable	Default	Description
CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR	/workspaces/.claude	Claude configuration directory
SETUP_CONFIG	true	Copy config files during setup
OVERWRITE_CONFIG	true	Overwrite existing configs
SETUP_ALIASES	true	Add cc alias to shell
SETUP_PLUGINS	true	Install official plugins

Claude Code Settings

Default settings are in .devcontainer/config/settings.json. These are copied to /workspaces/.claude/settings.json on first run.

Key defaults:

• Model: Claude Opus 4.5
• Default mode: Plan (prompts before executing)
• Max output tokens: 64,000

System Prompt

The default system prompt is in .devcontainer/config/main-system-prompt.md. Override it by creating a .claude/system-prompt.md in your project directory.

Custom Features

ClaudePod includes several custom devcontainer features:

Feature	Description
claude-monitor	Real-time token usage monitoring with ML predictions
ccusage	Usage analytics CLI
ccstatusline	Compact powerline status display
ast-grep	Structural code search using AST patterns
tree-sitter	Parser with JS/TS/Python grammars
lsp-servers	Pyright and TypeScript language servers

Essential Gotchas

• Authentication required: Run claude once to authenticate before using cc
• Plan mode default: The container starts in "plan" mode, which prompts for approval before making changes
• Project-local config: The cc command creates .claude/ in your current directory for project-specific settings
• GitHub auth persists: Run gh auth login once; credentials survive container rebuilds (stored in /workspaces/.gh/)

Development

Testing Locally

git clone https://github.com/AnExiledDev/ClaudePod.git
cd ClaudePod
npm test

Publishing

# Bump version in package.json, then:
npm publish

Further Reading

• Claude Code Documentation
• Dev Containers Specification
• GitHub CLI Manual