CodeForge DevContainer

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

Installation

Add CodeForge to any project:

npx codeforge-dev

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

Options

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

Alternative Install Methods

# Install globally
npm install -g codeforge-dev
codeforge-dev

# Run specific version
npx codeforge-dev@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

Package Managers

Development Tools

Code Intelligence

Claude Code Tools

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:

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 4-6
• Default mode: Plan (prompts before executing)
• Max output tokens: 128,000

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

CodeForge includes several custom devcontainer features:

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/CodeForge.git
cd CodeForge
npm test

Publishing

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

Further Reading

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