VS Code Insiders + Ubuntu Dev Environment on Bazzite Linux

This guide sets up VS Code Insiders with automatic updates and a persistent Ubuntu development container (similar to WSL) using Distrobox and Podman on Bazzite Linux (an ostree-based distro).

1. Add the Microsoft VS Code repository

echo -e "[code]\nname=Visual Studio Code\nbaseurl=https://packages.microsoft.com/yumrepos/vscode\nenabled=1\nautorefresh=1\ntype=rpm-md\ngpgcheck=1\ngpgkey=https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc" \
    | sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/vscode.repo > /dev/null

2. Install VS Code Insiders using rpm-ostree

sudo rpm-ostree install code-insiders

⚠️ Reboot required to apply changes.

systemctl reboot

3. Create a persistent Ubuntu container (like WSL)

After rebooting:

ujust distrobox-assemble ubuntu

You can then start/enter the container with:

distrobox enter ubuntu

4. Configure VS Code Insiders for Podman containers

• Open VS Code Insiders.
• Go to the Dev Containers extension (install if not done already)
• Go to Settings → Search for dockerPath.
• Set Dev Containers: Docker Path to podman.

5. Attach to the running Ubuntu container

• Start your container (if not already running):

  distrobox enter ubuntu

  You can immediately exit it again, this is just a way to start that podman container in the background.

• In VS Code:

  • Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P)
  • Select Dev Containers: Attach to Running Container
  • Choose your container name from the list

You're now ready to use VS Code inside your Ubuntu dev environment, just like WSL!