feat(agent/agentcontainers): allow auto start for discovered containers (#19040)

DanielleMaywood · web-flow · commit 66cf90c73600 · 2025-07-28T12:30:52.000+01:00
Closes coder/internal#711 When a `devcontainer.json` has been found and it has `.customizations.coder.autoStart = true`, we will now auto start this dev container.
diff --git a/agent/agentcontainers/api.go b/agent/agentcontainers/api.go
@@ -143,7 +143,8 @@ func WithCommandEnv(ce CommandEnv) Option {
 					strings.HasPrefix(s, "CODER_WORKSPACE_AGENT_URL=") ||
 					strings.HasPrefix(s, "CODER_AGENT_TOKEN=") ||
 					strings.HasPrefix(s, "CODER_AGENT_AUTH=") ||
-					strings.HasPrefix(s, "CODER_AGENT_DEVCONTAINERS_ENABLE=")
+					strings.HasPrefix(s, "CODER_AGENT_DEVCONTAINERS_ENABLE=") ||
+					strings.HasPrefix(s, "CODER_AGENT_DEVCONTAINERS_PROJECT_DISCOVERY_ENABLE=")
 			})
 			return shell, dir, env, nil
 		}
@@ -524,23 +525,41 @@ func (api *API) discoverDevcontainersInProject(projectPath string) error {
 
 			workspaceFolder := strings.TrimSuffix(path, relativeConfigPath)
 
-			logger.Debug(api.ctx, "discovered dev container project", slog.F("workspace_folder", workspaceFolder))
+			logger := logger.With(slog.F("workspace_folder", workspaceFolder))
+			logger.Debug(api.ctx, "discovered dev container project")
 
 			api.mu.Lock()
 			if _, found := api.knownDevcontainers[workspaceFolder]; !found {
-				logger.Debug(api.ctx, "adding dev container project", slog.F("workspace_folder", workspaceFolder))
+				logger.Debug(api.ctx, "adding dev container project")
 
 				dc := codersdk.WorkspaceAgentDevcontainer{
 					ID:              uuid.New(),
 					Name:            "", // Updated later based on container state.
 					WorkspaceFolder: workspaceFolder,
 					ConfigPath:      path,
-					Status:          "",    // Updated later based on container state.
+					Status:          codersdk.WorkspaceAgentDevcontainerStatusStopped,
 					Dirty:           false, // Updated later based on config file changes.
 					Container:       nil,
 				}
 
+				config, err := api.dccli.ReadConfig(api.ctx, workspaceFolder, path, []string{})
+				if err != nil {
+					logger.Error(api.ctx, "read project configuration", slog.Error(err))
+				} else if config.Configuration.Customizations.Coder.AutoStart {
+					dc.Status = codersdk.WorkspaceAgentDevcontainerStatusStarting
+				}
+
 				api.knownDevcontainers[workspaceFolder] = dc
+				api.broadcastUpdatesLocked()
+
+				if dc.Status == codersdk.WorkspaceAgentDevcontainerStatusStarting {
+					api.asyncWg.Add(1)
+					go func() {
+						defer api.asyncWg.Done()
+
+						_ = api.CreateDevcontainer(dc.WorkspaceFolder, dc.ConfigPath)
+					}()
+				}
 			}
 			api.mu.Unlock()
 		}
diff --git a/agent/agentcontainers/api_test.go b/agent/agentcontainers/api_test.go
@@ -3568,4 +3568,250 @@ func TestDevcontainerDiscovery(t *testing.T) {
 		// This is implicitly handled by `testutil.Logger` failing when it
 		// detects an error has been logged.
 	})
+
+	t.Run("AutoStart", func(t *testing.T) {
+		t.Parallel()
+
+		tests := []struct {
+			name                    string
+			agentDir                string
+			fs                      map[string]string
+			expectDevcontainerCount int
+			setupMocks              func(mDCCLI *acmock.MockDevcontainerCLI)
+		}{
+			{
+				name:                    "SingleEnabled",
+				agentDir:                "/home/coder",
+				expectDevcontainerCount: 1,
+				fs: map[string]string{
+					"/home/coder/.git/HEAD":                       "",
+					"/home/coder/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json": "",
+				},
+				setupMocks: func(mDCCLI *acmock.MockDevcontainerCLI) {
+					gomock.InOrder(
+						// Given: This dev container has auto start enabled.
+						mDCCLI.EXPECT().ReadConfig(gomock.Any(),
+							"/home/coder",
+							"/home/coder/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json",
+							[]string{},
+						).Return(agentcontainers.DevcontainerConfig{
+							Configuration: agentcontainers.DevcontainerConfiguration{
+								Customizations: agentcontainers.DevcontainerCustomizations{
+									Coder: agentcontainers.CoderCustomization{
+										AutoStart: true,
+									},
+								},
+							},
+						}, nil),
+
+						// Then: We expect it to be started.
+						mDCCLI.EXPECT().Up(gomock.Any(),
+							"/home/coder",
+							"/home/coder/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json",
+							gomock.Any(),
+						).Return("", nil),
+					)
+				},
+			},
+			{
+				name:                    "SingleDisabled",
+				agentDir:                "/home/coder",
+				expectDevcontainerCount: 1,
+				fs: map[string]string{
+					"/home/coder/.git/HEAD":                       "",
+					"/home/coder/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json": "",
+				},
+				setupMocks: func(mDCCLI *acmock.MockDevcontainerCLI) {
+					gomock.InOrder(
+						// Given: This dev container has auto start disabled.
+						mDCCLI.EXPECT().ReadConfig(gomock.Any(),
+							"/home/coder",
+							"/home/coder/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json",
+							[]string{},
+						).Return(agentcontainers.DevcontainerConfig{
+							Configuration: agentcontainers.DevcontainerConfiguration{
+								Customizations: agentcontainers.DevcontainerCustomizations{
+									Coder: agentcontainers.CoderCustomization{
+										AutoStart: false,
+									},
+								},
+							},
+						}, nil),
+
+						// Then: We expect it to _not_ be started.
+						mDCCLI.EXPECT().Up(gomock.Any(),
+							"/home/coder",
+							"/home/coder/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json",
+							gomock.Any(),
+						).Return("", nil).Times(0),
+					)
+				},
+			},
+			{
+				name:                    "OneEnabledOneDisabled",
+				agentDir:                "/home/coder",
+				expectDevcontainerCount: 2,
+				fs: map[string]string{
+					"/home/coder/.git/HEAD":                       "",
+					"/home/coder/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json": "",
+					"/home/coder/project/.devcontainer.json":      "",
+				},
+				setupMocks: func(mDCCLI *acmock.MockDevcontainerCLI) {
+					gomock.InOrder(
+						// Given: This dev container has auto start enabled.
+						mDCCLI.EXPECT().ReadConfig(gomock.Any(),
+							"/home/coder",
+							"/home/coder/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json",
+							[]string{},
+						).Return(agentcontainers.DevcontainerConfig{
+							Configuration: agentcontainers.DevcontainerConfiguration{
+								Customizations: agentcontainers.DevcontainerCustomizations{
+									Coder: agentcontainers.CoderCustomization{
+										AutoStart: true,
+									},
+								},
+							},
+						}, nil),
+
+						// Then: We expect it to be started.
+						mDCCLI.EXPECT().Up(gomock.Any(),
+							"/home/coder",
+							"/home/coder/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json",
+							gomock.Any(),
+						).Return("", nil),
+					)
+
+					gomock.InOrder(
+						// Given: This dev container has auto start disabled.
+						mDCCLI.EXPECT().ReadConfig(gomock.Any(),
+							"/home/coder/project",
+							"/home/coder/project/.devcontainer.json",
+							[]string{},
+						).Return(agentcontainers.DevcontainerConfig{
+							Configuration: agentcontainers.DevcontainerConfiguration{
+								Customizations: agentcontainers.DevcontainerCustomizations{
+									Coder: agentcontainers.CoderCustomization{
+										AutoStart: false,
+									},
+								},
+							},
+						}, nil),
+
+						// Then: We expect it to _not_ be started.
+						mDCCLI.EXPECT().Up(gomock.Any(),
+							"/home/coder/project",
+							"/home/coder/project/.devcontainer.json",
+							gomock.Any(),
+						).Return("", nil).Times(0),
+					)
+				},
+			},
+			{
+				name:                    "MultipleEnabled",
+				agentDir:                "/home/coder",
+				expectDevcontainerCount: 2,
+				fs: map[string]string{
+					"/home/coder/.git/HEAD":                       "",
+					"/home/coder/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json": "",
+					"/home/coder/project/.devcontainer.json":      "",
+				},
+				setupMocks: func(mDCCLI *acmock.MockDevcontainerCLI) {
+					gomock.InOrder(
+						// Given: This dev container has auto start enabled.
+						mDCCLI.EXPECT().ReadConfig(gomock.Any(),
+							"/home/coder",
+							"/home/coder/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json",
+							[]string{},
+						).Return(agentcontainers.DevcontainerConfig{
+							Configuration: agentcontainers.DevcontainerConfiguration{
+								Customizations: agentcontainers.DevcontainerCustomizations{
+									Coder: agentcontainers.CoderCustomization{
+										AutoStart: true,
+									},
+								},
+							},
+						}, nil),
+
+						// Then: We expect it to be started.
+						mDCCLI.EXPECT().Up(gomock.Any(),
+							"/home/coder",
+							"/home/coder/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json",
+							gomock.Any(),
+						).Return("", nil),
+					)
+
+					gomock.InOrder(
+						// Given: This dev container has auto start enabled.
+						mDCCLI.EXPECT().ReadConfig(gomock.Any(),
+							"/home/coder/project",
+							"/home/coder/project/.devcontainer.json",
+							[]string{},
+						).Return(agentcontainers.DevcontainerConfig{
+							Configuration: agentcontainers.DevcontainerConfiguration{
+								Customizations: agentcontainers.DevcontainerCustomizations{
+									Coder: agentcontainers.CoderCustomization{
+										AutoStart: true,
+									},
+								},
+							},
+						}, nil),
+
+						// Then: We expect it to be started.
+						mDCCLI.EXPECT().Up(gomock.Any(),
+							"/home/coder/project",
+							"/home/coder/project/.devcontainer.json",
+							gomock.Any(),
+						).Return("", nil),
+					)
+				},
+			},
+		}
+
+		for _, tt := range tests {
+			t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+				t.Parallel()
+
+				var (
+					ctx    = testutil.Context(t, testutil.WaitShort)
+					logger = testutil.Logger(t)
+					mClock = quartz.NewMock(t)
+					mDCCLI = acmock.NewMockDevcontainerCLI(gomock.NewController(t))
+
+					r = chi.NewRouter()
+				)
+
+				// Given: We setup our mocks. These mocks handle our expectations for these
+				// tests. If there are missing/unexpected mock calls, the test will fail.
+				tt.setupMocks(mDCCLI)
+
+				api := agentcontainers.NewAPI(logger,
+					agentcontainers.WithClock(mClock),
+					agentcontainers.WithWatcher(watcher.NewNoop()),
+					agentcontainers.WithFileSystem(initFS(t, tt.fs)),
+					agentcontainers.WithManifestInfo("owner", "workspace", "parent-agent", "/home/coder"),
+					agentcontainers.WithContainerCLI(&fakeContainerCLI{}),
+					agentcontainers.WithDevcontainerCLI(mDCCLI),
+					agentcontainers.WithProjectDiscovery(true),
+				)
+				api.Start()
+				defer api.Close()
+				r.Mount("/", api.Routes())
+
+				// When: All expected dev containers have been found.
+				require.Eventuallyf(t, func() bool {
+					req := httptest.NewRequest(http.MethodGet, "/", nil).WithContext(ctx)
+					rec := httptest.NewRecorder()
+					r.ServeHTTP(rec, req)
+
+					got := codersdk.WorkspaceAgentListContainersResponse{}
+					err := json.NewDecoder(rec.Body).Decode(&got)
+					require.NoError(t, err)
+
+					return len(got.Devcontainers) >= tt.expectDevcontainerCount
+				}, testutil.WaitShort, testutil.IntervalFast, "dev containers never found")
+
+				// Then: We expect the mock infra to not fail.
+			})
+		}
+	})
 }
diff --git a/agent/agentcontainers/devcontainercli.go b/agent/agentcontainers/devcontainercli.go
@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@ type CoderCustomization struct {
 	Apps        []SubAgentApp                `json:"apps,omitempty"`
 	Name        string                       `json:"name,omitempty"`
 	Ignore      bool                         `json:"ignore,omitempty"`
+	AutoStart   bool                         `json:"autoStart,omitempty"`
 }
 
 type DevcontainerWorkspace struct {

Original file line number	Diff line number	Diff line change
`@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@ type CoderCustomization struct {`
`91`	`91`	Apps []SubAgentApp `json:"apps,omitempty"`
`92`	`92`	Name string `json:"name,omitempty"`
`93`	`93`	Ignore bool `json:"ignore,omitempty"`
	`94`	+ AutoStart bool `json:"autoStart,omitempty"`
`94`	`95`	`}`
`95`	`96`
`96`	`97`	`type DevcontainerWorkspace struct {`