Default Development Environment introduces the default Workspaces image and how to configure a command that runs automatically on startup.

When to use: when you have not specified an image but still want extra tooling or an init command. When docker.image / docker.build is not explicitly declared, the development environment uses the default image cnbcool/default-dev-env. Check what the default image ships with, then decide between a custom image and CNB_WELCOME_CMD.

Configure Automatic Command Execution

The default image comes with the VS Code extension cnb-welcome pre-installed, so no additional installation is needed. Configure the CNB_WELCOME_CMD environment variable to run a command once in the terminal when the development environment opens (WebIDE / remote client).

Configure in .cnb.yml

Declare a vscode event pipeline in the .cnb.yml of the repository's default branch and set CNB_WELCOME_CMD in env to automatically run the specified command in the terminal when the development environment opens:

.cnb.yml

$:
  vscode:
    - services:
        - vscode
      env:
        CNB_WELCOME_CMD: echo "Environment ready, start coding"
      stages:
        - name: environment created
          script: echo "development environment created"

The value of CNB_WELCOME_CMD is a shell command, run once when you enter the development environment.

For multiple steps or special characters, write them into a script file first and set CNB_WELCOME_CMD to a command that invokes the script, such as bash /workspace/setup.sh.

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