ediContainers

VS Code / Cursor extension for managing Apple container machines (container machine).

Features

• Create machines from presets (Ubuntu, Debian, Alpine, Kali) with SSH + sudo preconfigured (root / root)
• Custom Dockerfile path for hand-written images (does not touch preset Dockerfiles / BASE_IMAGE injection)
• Edit which base images/versions to pull via a user JSON settings file
• List container machines with status and IP address
• Start, stop, and delete machines from the sidebar
• Connect to a running machine via Remote SSH
• Auto-refresh with configurable interval
• Start the container system when it is not running

Requirements

• macOS 26+ on Apple Silicon
• Apple container CLI installed (container in PATH)
• Container system running: container system start
• Remote - SSH extension for SSH connections (in Cursor: anysphere.remote-ssh)

Installation

Prebuilt .vsix releases are published on GitHub — no npm / compile required.

1. Open Releases and download edi-containers-*.vsix (e.g. edi-containers-0.2.1.vsix).
2. Install in one of these ways:

Cursor / VS Code UI

1. Open Extensions (Cmd+Shift+X).
2. Click … (top of the Extensions view) → Install from VSIX…
3. Select the downloaded .vsix file.
4. Reload the window if prompted.

CLI

# Cursor
cursor --install-extension ~/Downloads/edi-containers-0.2.1.vsix

# VS Code
code --install-extension ~/Downloads/edi-containers-0.2.1.vsix

Or download the asset from the latest release, then install the local file (CLI cannot resolve a version-agnostic .vsix name automatically):

# open latest release in browser, download edi-containers-*.vsix, then:
cursor --install-extension ~/Downloads/edi-containers-0.2.1.vsix

After install, open the ediContainers icon in the Activity Bar.

Usage

1. Open the ediContainers view in the Activity Bar.
2. Click + (Create Machine): pick a preset or Custom Dockerfile, enter a name. Presets build with injected BASE_IMAGE; Custom builds your file as-is.
3. Machines appear with status · IP in the description.
4. Use inline actions or the context menu:
   • Start — boots a stopped machine
   • Stop — stops a running machine
   • Connect via SSH — pick or enter a username, then open a Remote SSH window as user@ip (preset machines: root / root)
   • Copy IP — copy the machine IP to the clipboard
   • Delete Machine — stop (if needed) and delete
5. Click the gear (Edit Machine Image Settings) to change preset base image tags/versions. Use Edit Custom Dockerfile (or the Custom item in Create) for a fully manual image.
6. Click Refresh to update the list manually.

Custom Dockerfile

Presets stay opinionated (SSH root/root, systemd/OpenRC, etc.). For full control:

1. Create Machine → Custom Dockerfile (or command Edit Custom Dockerfile).
2. Edit the file in extension global storage (created once from a minimal skeleton; never overwritten).
3. Build & Create → choose image tag → machine name.

No --build-arg BASE_IMAGE is passed. Rebuild triggers when the Dockerfile content changes.

SSH usernames are stored in the extension global storage folder and offered again on later connects.

Machine image settings

Defaults ship in templates/machine-images.json. On first use a copy is written to the extension global storage. Edit that copy (via the gear command) to change what gets pulled, for example:

{
  "id": "ubuntu",
  "label": "Ubuntu",
  "description": "Ubuntu + systemd + SSH (root/root)",
  "baseImage": "ubuntu:22.04",
  "localTag": "edi-containers/ubuntu-ssh:local",
  "enabled": true
}

Set "enabled": false to hide a template from Create. After changing baseImage, the next Create rebuilds that local tag.

Configuration

Development

npm install
npm run compile
npm run watch   # during development

If Node.js/npm is not installed globally, you can compile with Cursor's bundled Node:

npm run compile:cursor

Or manually:

export PATH="/Applications/Cursor.app/Contents/Resources/app/resources/helpers:$PATH"
node esbuild.js

Press F5 in VS Code/Cursor to launch an Extension Development Host.

Build VSIX

For maintainers (end users should use Installation from Releases):

npm install
npm run package

This produces edi-containers-<version>.vsix in the repo root. Attach it to a GitHub Release for others to install.

CLI mapping

License

MIT