Feature Type

New Functionality

Priority/Impact

Critical (blocking work)

Problem Statement

Currently, developers working on PyLaunch Blueprint across different operating systems (particularly Windows) face inconsistencies in their development environments. This leads to "works on my machine" problems, dependency conflicts, and onboarding difficulties for new contributors. Without a standardized development environment, developers spend unnecessary time troubleshooting environment-specific issues rather than focusing on actual development.

Requires Proposal

Yes, detailed proposal needed

Proposed Solution

Implement Visual Studio Code Dev Containers for PyLaunch Blueprint by creating a properly configured devcontainer.json file that provides a consistent development environment.
The implementation should:

Create a well-configured devcontainer.json file for VS Code
Leverage existing Docker setup instructions rather than creating new ones (point to official documentation for different OSs)
Implement a generic configuration for mounting the local file system
Specify the required VS Code extensions and development tools that should be pre-installed
Ensure compatibility across Windows, macOS, and Linux

The goal is to minimize setup complexity by using existing resources where possible while ensuring the container provides everything needed for PyLaunch Blueprint development.

Make sure to analyse the example Template Project below in references

Research Needed

Yes

Research Details

Research is required to determine:

The optimal base Docker image for our Python version requirements
Which dependencies should be pre-installed in the container
Specific VS Code extensions that should be included
Best practices for volume mounting and file synchronization
Any PyLaunch Blueprint-specific requirements that need special handling in containers
Testing methodology to verify the container works correctly across all target platforms
Identifying the best existing Docker setup documentation to reference for different operating systems

References
DevContainiers VSCode
Example Template Project using DevContainers

Acceptance Criteria Confirmation

Yes

Pre-submission Confirmation

Yes