MCP Dev Container Module#

The DevOps-OS MCP Dev Container module enables AI assistants (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, etc.) to generate production-ready development container configurations through natural language prompts.

Overview#

The MCP Dev Container module provides an intelligent API for creating customized dev container configurations that include:

  • Multi-language support: Python, Java, Go, Node.js, Rust, Ruby, C/C++, PHP, C#, Kotlin, and more
  • CI/CD tool integration: Docker, Podman, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, GitLab CI, Terraform, Kubectl, Helm
  • Kubernetes utilities: K9s, Kustomize, ArgoCD, Flux, KinD, Minikube, OpenShift CLI
  • Build systems: Maven, Gradle, Make, CMake, Ant
  • Code analysis tools: SonarQube, ESLint, Pylint, Checkstyle, PMD
  • DevOps platforms: Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack, Nexus Repository
  • Automatic VS Code extension recommendations based on selected tools
  • Port forwarding setup for services like Grafana, Prometheus, Jenkins, etc.

Using with AI Assistants#

Claude Desktop#

Configure your Claude Desktop to use the DevOps-OS MCP server:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "devops-os": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "mcp_server.server"]
    }
  }
}

Then ask Claude:

Generate a dev container for a full-stack application with Python 3.12,
Node.js 22, Docker, Kubernetes tools (k9s, kustomize, ArgoCD), and Prometheus
for monitoring.

Claude will generate the complete devcontainer.json and devcontainer.env.json configuration.

Cursor IDE#

Add to your Cursor configuration to use DevOps-OS as an AI skill:

{
  "customInstructions": {
    "devopsAutomation": {
      "tools": ["scaffold_devcontainer"],
      "description": "Generate DevOps automation artifacts including dev containers"
    }
  }
}

ChatGPT with MCP#

Use the DevOps-OS MCP server with ChatGPT by configuring a custom tool that calls the scaffold_devcontainer endpoint.

API Reference#

scaffold_devcontainer#

Generate a complete dev container configuration.

Parameters:

ParameterTypeDefaultDescription
languagesstringpythonComma-separated languages (python, java, javascript, node, typescript, go, rust, ruby, csharp, php, kotlin, c, cpp)
cicd_toolsstringdocker,github_actionsComma-separated CI/CD tools (docker, podman, terraform, kubectl, helm, github_actions, jenkins, gitlab)
kubernetes_toolsstringk9s,kustomizeComma-separated K8s tools (k9s, kustomize, argocd_cli, flux, lens, kubeseal, kind, minikube, openshift_cli)
build_toolsstring(empty)Comma-separated build tools (maven, gradle, make, cmake, ant)
code_analysis_toolsstring(empty)Comma-separated analysis tools (sonarqube, eslint, pylint, checkstyle, pmd)
devops_toolsstring(empty)Comma-separated DevOps tools (prometheus, grafana, elk, nexus)
python_versionstring3.12Python version
java_versionstring21Java JDK version
node_versionstring22Node.js version
go_versionstring1.25.0Go version
ruby_versionstring3.3Ruby version
rust_versionstringlatestRust version

Returns:

A JSON object containing:

{
  "devcontainer_json": { /* devcontainer.json config */ },
  "devcontainer_env_json": { /* devcontainer.env.json config */ },
  "suggestions": "AI-generated customization suggestions (optional)"
}

Usage Examples#

Example 1: Full-Stack Web Application#

Prompt: “I’m building a full-stack web application with Python backend and React frontend. I also need Kubernetes deployment capabilities.”

Generated config will include:

  • Python 3.12
  • Node.js 22
  • Docker, Podman
  • Kubectl, Helm, K9s, Kustomize
  • Docker and Kubernetes VS Code extensions
  • Port forwarding for development servers

Example 2: Microservices Platform#

Prompt: “Create a dev container for microservices development with Go, Java, and TypeScript, with GitOps capabilities using ArgoCD and Flux.”

Generated config will include:

  • Go 1.25.0
  • Java 21
  • Node.js 22 (for TypeScript)
  • Docker, Terraform
  • ArgoCD CLI, Flux
  • All required VS Code extensions
  • Port forwarding for ArgoCD and service meshes

Example 3: DevOps & SRE Platform#

Prompt: “I need a development environment for SRE work with Python for automation, Kubernetes management tools, and observability stack (Prometheus, Grafana).”

Generated config will include:

  • Python 3.12
  • Docker, Kubectl, Helm
  • K8s tools (K9s, KinD, Minikube)
  • Prometheus 3.5.1
  • Grafana 12.4.2
  • SonarQube for code analysis
  • Port forwarding: 9090 (Prometheus), 3000 (Grafana)

Features#

Intelligent Extension Recommendations#

The module automatically recommends VS Code extensions based on selected tools:

  • Python → Python, Pylance, Black Formatter
  • Java → Java Pack, Maven, Gradle
  • Go → Go, Go Nightly
  • Docker → Docker extension
  • Kubernetes → Kubernetes Tools, Mindaro (Bridge to K8s)
  • GitOps → GitOps Toolkit (for Flux), ArgoCD Extension
  • CI/CD → GitHub Actions, GitLab Workflow, Jenkinsfile Support
  • General → GitHub Copilot, Live Share, Spell Checker, GitLens

Automatic Port Forwarding#

The module configures port forwarding for services that typically run in containers:

  • Prometheus: 9090
  • Grafana: 3000
  • Jenkins: 8080
  • Nexus: 8081
  • ELK Stack: 9200, 9300, 5601

Version Management#

Each tool has sensible defaults, but all versions are configurable:

  • Python: 3.12 (supports 3.7 - 3.12+)
  • Java: 21 (supports 8 - 21)
  • Node.js: 22 (supports 14 - 22)
  • Go: 1.25.0 (supports 1.19+)
  • And many more…

Integration with CLI#

The MCP module shares the same underlying configuration logic as the CLI tool:

# CLI-based generation
python -m devops_os.core.scaffold_devcontainer \
  --languages python,go \
  --cicd-tools docker,kubernetes \
  --kubernetes-tools k9s,argocd_cli,flux

# MCP-based generation (via AI assistant)
# Ask Claude: "Generate a dev container for Python and Go with Kubernetes tools..."

Both methods produce identical results, allowing you to choose the interface that works best for your workflow.

Next Steps#

Backward Version Management Language-Specific Setup Guides Forward