How to conditionally include a docker compose extension yml file only if present

[mshiltonj]

In the devcontainer.json file, we can define an array of docker compose files like so:

"dockerComposeFile": ["../docker-compose.yml", "docker-compose.extend.yml"]

However, if any file is listed here, it must exist on the file system or the container will fail to start.

In our environment, some developers will define a docker compose extension yml file and some will not.

We have added a docker-compose.override.yml line to our .gitignore file and individual developers can opt in to modifying their local development container environment if they choose.

Is this possible using a devcontainer.json configuration? I have made a few attempts, but have been unable to conditionally-include-if-present a given docker compose override/extension yml file.

If not, it would a useful feature to add.

[chrmarti]

You can use "dockerComposeFile": [] to get Docker Compose's default behavior of using docker-compose.yml and optionally docker-compose.override.yml from the workspace folder (where Docker Compose is run).

Keeping this issue to track the more general request.