launch.sh reference

.devcontainer/launch.sh launches a development container for a chosen CUDA toolkit and host compiler. It selects a generated devcontainer.json, mounts the repository, and starts either a VSCode dev container or a raw Docker shell. Linux-only.

Flags

Flag	Type	Default	Description
-c, --cuda <VER>	string	unset	CUDA toolkit version, e.g. 12.9. Combines with --host to select a container.
-H, --host <COMPILER>	string	unset	Host compiler, e.g. gcc12. Combines with --cuda to select a container.
--cuda-ext	flag	false	Select the extended-CTK-libraries image. Adds the ext suffix to the container name.
-d, --docker	flag	false	Launch directly in Docker, bypassing VSCode.
--gpus <REQUEST>	string	inferred	GPU devices to attach, e.g. all. Overrides the hostRequirements.gpu value from devcontainer.json.
-e, --env <LIST>	list	none	Set additional container environment variables. Repeatable.
-v, --volume <LIST>	list	none	Bind-mount an additional volume. Repeatable.
-h, --help	flag	—	Print usage and exit.

Arguments after -- pass through to the container as the command to run.

Container selection

With no --cuda and no --host, launch.sh uses the top-level .devcontainer/devcontainer.json (the default environment).

Set both --cuda and --host to select a generated container. With both set, launch.sh builds a directory name and loads .devcontainer/<name>/devcontainer.json:

cuda<VER>[ext]-<COMPILER>

<VER> comes from --cuda, <COMPILER> from --host, and the ext suffix is added when --cuda-ext is set. Examples:

cuda12.9-gcc12         # --cuda 12.9 --host gcc12
cuda13.3ext-clang20    # --cuda 13.3 --host clang20 --cuda-ext

If the resolved devcontainer.json does not exist, launch.sh reports the unknown combination and exits non-zero.