Agent skill

Devcontainers Nix

by sickn33 in sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills

Create reproducible development environments with Dev Containers, Nix flakes, and Devbox for consistent toolchains across teams.

MITAuto-check passedDevOps & Cloud

Install Devcontainers Nix

skills CLI
$ npx skills add sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills --skill devcontainers-nix -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills devcontainers-nix --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/devcontainers-nix .claude/skills/devcontainers-nix && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
devcontainers-nix
GitHub stars
47k
Used in
1 other repo
Token cost
~2.6k tokens
SKILL.md length
336 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
1,354
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Create reproducible development environments with Dev Containers, Nix flakes, and Devbox for consistent toolchains across teams.

  • Tasks that involve Containers
  • SKILL.md covers When to Use This Skill, Dev Containers, Nix Flakes and Devbox (Nix Made Simple), plus 6 more sections
  • Calls nix, git and go; reaches dl.k8s.io and get.opentofu.org; needs POSTGRES_PASSWORD and CACHIX_AUTH_TOKEN

What it does

Devcontainers Nix is an agent skill from sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills. Create reproducible development environments with Dev Containers, Nix flakes, and Devbox for consistent toolchains across teams.

Its SKILL.md is about 2.6k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts. Compatibility notes: Requires the relevant platform CLIs (kubectl, helm, terraform, git, CI runners) and authorized access to the target environment. Docs-only; helper scripts and…

It sits in DevOps & Cloud, covering Containers. The repository describes itself as: AAS Core is the local, agent-first control plane for complete catalog discovery, agent-owned selection, stack validation, and planning, backed by 2,400+ agentic skills. Includes… The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Tasks that involve Containers

Example prompts

  • “/devcontainers-nix”

Requirements

  • Python 3
  • Node.js
  • Docker
  • A credential in CACHIX_AUTH_TOKEN
  • Compatibility (from SKILL.md): Requires the relevant platform CLIs (kubectl, helm, terraform, git, CI runners) and authorized access to the target environment. Docs-only; helper scripts and templates not bundled.

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit ec02547. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • nix
    • git
    • go
    • curl
    • sh
    • kubectl

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    Hosts in commands or code, which the agent is likely to contact:

    • dl.k8s.io
    • get.opentofu.org
    • get.jetify.com
    • raw.githubusercontent.com

    Also links to:

    • github.com

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names these keys or tokens, usually read from environment variables:

    • POSTGRES_PASSWORD
    • CACHIX_AUTH_TOKEN

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

  • Compatibility

    Requires the relevant platform CLIs (kubectl, helm, terraform, git, CI runners) and authorized access to the target environment. Docs-only; helper scripts and templates not bundled.

    From compatibility in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

Context cost

Devcontainers Nix loads about 2.6k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 37 tokens; SKILL.md has 336 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~37
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~2.6k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills at commit ec02547, republished under its MIT licence (© sickn33). 336 words, ~2,567 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/devcontainers-nix/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
devcontainers-nix
description
Create reproducible development environments with Dev Containers, Nix flakes, and Devbox for consistent toolchains across teams.
compatibility
Requires the relevant platform CLIs (kubectl, helm, terraform, git, CI runners) and authorized access to the target environment. Docs-only; helper scripts and templates not bundled.
category
devops
risk
critical
source
https://github.com/BagelHole/DevOps-Security-Agent-Skills
source_repo
BagelHole/DevOps-Security-Agent-Skills
source_type
community
date_added
2026-09-20
license
MIT
license_source
https://github.com/BagelHole/DevOps-Security-Agent-Skills/blob/main/LICENSE
metadata.author
devops-skills
metadata.version
1.0

Dev Containers & Nix Environments

Reproducible, portable development environments that eliminate environment drift.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

  • Onboarding new developers (zero-to-productive in minutes)
  • Standardizing toolchains across a team
  • Eliminating "works on my machine" problems
  • Setting up CI environments that match local dev
  • Creating ephemeral, disposable dev environments

Dev Containers

Basic Configuration
json
// .devcontainer/devcontainer.json
{
  "name": "My Project",
  "image": "mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/base:ubuntu-22.04",
  "features": {
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/node:1": { "version": "20" },
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/python:1": { "version": "3.12" },
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/docker-in-docker:2": {},
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/kubectl-helm-minikube:1": {}
  },
  "forwardPorts": [3000, 5432],
  "postCreateCommand": "npm install",
  "customizations": {
    "vscode": {
      "extensions": [
        "dbaeumer.vscode-eslint",
        "esbenp.prettier-vscode",
        "ms-python.python"
      ],
      "settings": {
        "editor.formatOnSave": true
      }
    }
  }
}
Docker Compose Dev Container
json
// .devcontainer/devcontainer.json
{
  "name": "Full Stack Dev",
  "dockerComposeFile": "docker-compose.yml",
  "service": "app",
  "workspaceFolder": "/workspace",
  "forwardPorts": [3000, 5432, 6379],
  "postCreateCommand": "npm install && npx prisma migrate dev"
}
yaml
# .devcontainer/docker-compose.yml
services:
  app:
    build:
      context: ..
      dockerfile: .devcontainer/Dockerfile
    volumes:
      - ..:/workspace:cached
    command: sleep infinity
    depends_on: [db, redis]

  db:
    image: postgres:16
    environment:
      POSTGRES_DB: dev
      POSTGRES_USER: dev
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: dev
    volumes:
      - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    ports:
      - "5432:5432"

  redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    ports:
      - "6379:6379"

volumes:
  pgdata:
Custom Dockerfile
dockerfile
# .devcontainer/Dockerfile
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/base:ubuntu-22.04

# System dependencies
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
    build-essential \
    curl \
    git \
    jq \
    unzip \
    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

# Install project-specific tools
RUN curl -fsSL https://get.opentofu.org/install-opentofu.sh -o /tmp/install-opentofu.sh \
    && sh /tmp/install-opentofu.sh -s -- --install-method standalone \
    && rm /tmp/install-opentofu.sh
RUN curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -sL https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl" \
    && install kubectl /usr/local/bin/

# Non-root user setup
USER vscode
WORKDIR /workspace

Nix Flakes

Basic Flake
nix
# flake.nix
{
  description = "Project development environment";

  inputs = {
    nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
    flake-utils.url = "github:numtide/flake-utils";
  };

  outputs = { self, nixpkgs, flake-utils }:
    flake-utils.lib.eachDefaultSystem (system:
      let
        pkgs = nixpkgs.legacyPackages.${system};
      in {
        devShells.default = pkgs.mkShell {
          buildInputs = with pkgs; [
            # Languages
            nodejs_20
            python312
            go_1_22
            rustc
            cargo

            # Tools
            docker-compose
            kubectl
            kubernetes-helm
            opentofu
            awscli2
            jq
            yq-go

            # Databases
            postgresql_16
            redis
          ];

          shellHook = ''
            echo "Dev environment loaded"
            export PROJECT_ROOT=$(pwd)
            export PATH="$PROJECT_ROOT/node_modules/.bin:$PATH"
          '';
        };
      }
    );
}
bash
# Enter the dev shell
nix develop

# Or run a single command
nix develop --command bash -c "node --version && go version"

# Build and run
nix build
nix run
Pin Dependencies
bash
# Lock flake inputs for reproducibility
nix flake lock
nix flake update  # Update all inputs

# Update a specific input
nix flake lock --update-input nixpkgs

Devbox (Nix Made Simple)

Devbox wraps Nix with a friendlier interface:

bash
# Install Devbox
curl -fsSL https://get.jetify.com/devbox -o /tmp/install-devbox.sh && sh /tmp/install-devbox.sh && rm /tmp/install-devbox.sh

# Initialize project
devbox init

# Add packages
devbox add nodejs@20 python@3.12 postgresql@16
devbox add go@1.22 kubectl helm

# Enter shell
devbox shell

# Run commands without entering shell
devbox run node --version
devbox.json Configuration
json
{
  "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jetify-com/devbox/main/.schema/devbox.schema.json",
  "packages": [
    "nodejs@20",
    "python@3.12",
    "go@1.22",
    "kubectl@1.29",
    "kubernetes-helm@3.14",
    "opentofu@1.8",
    "awscli2@2.15",
    "jq@1.7",
    "postgresql@16",
    "redis@7"
  ],
  "env": {
    "PROJECT_ROOT": "$PWD",
    "DATABASE_URL": "postgresql://localhost:5432/dev"
  },
  "shell": {
    "init_hook": [
      "echo 'Dev environment ready'",
      "npm install --silent 2>/dev/null || true"
    ],
    "scripts": {
      "dev": "npm run dev",
      "test": "npm test",
      "db:start": "pg_ctl -D .devbox/virtenv/postgresql/data start",
      "db:stop": "pg_ctl -D .devbox/virtenv/postgresql/data stop",
      "db:migrate": "npx prisma migrate dev"
    }
  }
}
bash
# Run project scripts
devbox run dev
devbox run test
devbox run db:start

# Generate direnv integration (auto-activate on cd)
devbox generate direnv

# Generate Dockerfile from devbox config
devbox generate dockerfile
Devbox + direnv (Auto-Activate)
bash
# Install direnv
devbox add direnv

# Generate .envrc
devbox generate direnv

# Allow direnv
direnv allow
bash
# .envrc (auto-generated)
eval "$(devbox generate direnv --print-envrc)"

Now cd-ing into the project automatically loads the environment.

CI/CD Integration

GitHub Actions with Devbox
yaml
# .github/workflows/ci.yml
name: CI
on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: jetify-com/devbox-install-action@v0.11.0
        with:
          enable-cache: true
      - run: devbox run test
      - run: devbox run lint
GitHub Actions with Nix
yaml
name: CI
on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: cachix/install-nix-action@v26
        with:
          nix_path: nixpkgs=channel:nixos-unstable
      - uses: cachix/cachix-action@v14
        with:
          name: my-project
          authToken: '${{ secrets.CACHIX_AUTH_TOKEN }}'
      - run: nix develop --command bash -c "npm ci && npm test"
GitHub Codespaces
json
// .devcontainer/devcontainer.json — works in Codespaces
{
  "name": "Codespaces Dev",
  "image": "mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/universal:2",
  "features": {
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/node:1": { "version": "20" }
  },
  "postCreateCommand": "npm install",
  "portsAttributes": {
    "3000": { "label": "App", "onAutoForward": "openBrowser" },
    "5432": { "label": "Postgres", "onAutoForward": "ignore" }
  }
}

Comparison

FeatureDev ContainersNix FlakesDevbox
Learning curveLowHighLow
ReproducibilityGood (Docker)ExcellentExcellent (Nix)
SpeedSlow (build image)Fast (cached)Fast (cached)
IDE supportVS Code, JetBrainsAny terminalAny terminal
CI integrationDocker-basedNix actionsDevbox action
Offline supportLimitedFullFull
macOS/Linux/WinAllmacOS/LinuxmacOS/Linux

Best Practices

  • Pin all tool versions explicitly — never use latest
  • Commit lock files (flake.lock, devbox.lock, etc.)
  • Use direnv for automatic environment activation
  • Cache Nix store in CI (Cachix or GitHub cache)
  • Document setup in README: devbox shell or nix develop
  • Keep dev environment close to production (same Node/Python versions)

Troubleshooting

IssueSolution
Nix build slow first timeUse binary cache (Cachix), nix develop caches after first run
Dev Container won't buildCheck Docker disk space, rebuild with --no-cache
Package not in NixpkgsSearch at search.nixos.org, or use fetchFromGitHub overlay
Devbox hash mismatchRun devbox update, delete .devbox/ and re-init
direnv not activatingRun direnv allow, check shell hook is installed
  • docker-management (docker-management) — Container image optimization
  • github-actions (github-actions) — CI/CD pipeline setup
  • linux-administration (linux-administration) — System-level tooling

Limitations

  • Guidance executes against real environments: confirm target, blast radius, and rollback plan before applying anything.
  • Never deploy to production without explicit approval. Docs-only import: upstream scripts and templates not bundled.
Example
bash
git status && git diff --stat
kubectl diff -f manifest.yaml

Adapted from BagelHole/DevOps-Security-Agent-Skills (MIT); frontmatter, When to Use/Limitations, and safety boundaries added for upstream compliance. Docs-only import: helper scripts and templates not bundled.

© sickn33, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in skills/devcontainers-nix of sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit ec02547

Used in 1 other repository

We found 5 copies of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 1 other GitHub owner. This page covers the copy in sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

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Build Openshell Mxc WindowsNVIDIA/OpenShell15k—~4.9kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0

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Categories

Questions about Devcontainers Nix

What does Devcontainers Nix do?

Create reproducible development environments with Dev Containers, Nix flakes, and Devbox for consistent toolchains across teams. Devcontainers Nix is an agent skill from sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills. Create reproducible development environments with Dev Containers, Nix flakes, and Devbox for consistent toolchains across teams.

When should I use Devcontainers Nix?

Devcontainers Nix fits situations like: tasks that involve Containers.

How do I install Devcontainers Nix in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills --skill devcontainers-nix -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/devcontainers-nix in sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills) into .claude/skills/devcontainers-nix in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Devcontainers Nix in Codex?

Run `npx skills add sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills --skill devcontainers-nix -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/devcontainers-nix in sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills) into .agents/skills/devcontainers-nix in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Devcontainers Nix in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills --skill devcontainers-nix -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/devcontainers-nix, .gemini/skills/devcontainers-nix, .github/skills/devcontainers-nix and .opencode/skills/devcontainers-nix in your project.

What does Devcontainers Nix need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Devcontainers Nix needs the command-line tools its instructions call (nix, git, go, curl, sh and kubectl) and credentials named POSTGRES_PASSWORD and CACHIX_AUTH_TOKEN. Our summary lists: Python 3; Node.js; Docker; A credential in CACHIX_AUTH_TOKEN. Compatibility (from SKILL.md): Requires the relevant platform CLIs (kubectl, helm, terraform, git, CI runners) and authorized access to the target environment. Docs-only; helper scripts and templates not bundled..

Does Devcontainers Nix access the network?

SKILL.md names 5 domains. In commands or code: dl.k8s.io, get.opentofu.org, get.jetify.com and raw.githubusercontent.com; the agent is likely to contact these when it follows the instructions. As links in the text: github.com. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Devcontainers Nix safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Devcontainers Nix use?

Devcontainers Nix is published under the MIT licence (declared in SKILL.md). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Devcontainers Nix use?

About 2.6k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 10k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Devcontainers Nix?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Devcontainers Nix: Iron Proxy Gateway for NanoClaw (nanocoai/nanoclaw, 31k stars), GreptimeDB Dev Docker Image (GreptimeTeam/greptimedb, 6.7k stars), Senior DevOps Toolkit (maslennikov-ig/claude-code-orchestrator-kit, 260 stars) and LangBot Deployment Guide (langbot-app/LangBot, 18k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Devcontainers Nix?

sickn33 (a GitHub user) maintains it in sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills, which has 47,343 GitHub stars. The repository holds 1,354 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 7, 2026.

Source: sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.