DevPod Dotfiles

Shared dotfiles injected into every DevPod container via DOTFILES_URL. Provides tmux, Claude Code CLI, and the claudes session manager for phone-based development via Termius + Tailscale.

Why This Exists

Claude Code is a terminal-based AI coding assistant — no GUI, no IDE required. This makes it uniquely suited for mobile development:

• tmux keeps sessions alive across disconnects. Start a Claude Code session from your desktop, detach, walk away, and reconnect from your phone — the full conversation and context is still there. Multiple sessions per workspace let you run parallel Claude tasks.

• Tailscale creates a private mesh VPN between your devices. Your WSL2 instance gets a stable IP (100.x.x.x) accessible from anywhere — no port forwarding, no dynamic DNS, no exposing SSH to the internet.

• Termius (Android/iOS) provides a proper terminal with keyboard support, paste, and tmux-aware features. Combined with Tailscale, it turns your phone into a full development terminal.

The result: you can write code, review PRs, debug production issues, and run AI-assisted development sessions from your phone — on the bus, in a waiting room, or on the couch — with the same power as sitting at your desktop.

What Gets Installed

install.sh runs automatically inside each new DevPod container and installs:

Component	Purpose
tmux	Persistent terminal sessions that survive disconnects
Claude Code CLI	AI-powered coding assistant
claudes	tmux session manager (auto-launches on login)
.tmux.conf	Container-optimized tmux config (mouse scroll/drag, OSC 52 clipboard, status bar at top)
.bashrc	Shell config (history, aliases, auto-venv, sources .bashrc.d/)
.bashrc.d/	Bash snippets (PATH, auto-launch claudes)

Architecture

Phone (Termius) → Tailscale VPN → WSL2 (100.109.194.122:22)
  → claudes → interactive menu → ssh WORKSPACE.devpod
  → Container claudes → tmux → Claude Code

DevPod provides built-in SSH tunneling via ProxyCommand entries in ~/.ssh/config. No SSH ports or openssh-server needed inside containers.

Usage

Create a DevPod workspace

# From WSL — DevPod auto-discovers .devcontainer/devcontainer.json
devpod up ~/git_wsl/alerts --ide none

# Repos with multiple devcontainer configs — DevPod shows a picker menu.
# Or specify explicitly with --devcontainer-path:
devpod up ~/git_wsl/wibble --devcontainer-path .devcontainer/devpod/devcontainer.json --ide none
devpod up ~/git_wsl/spartans-hockey --devcontainer-path .devcontainer/devpod/devcontainer.json --ide none

# Or with VS Code:
devpod up ~/git_wsl/alerts --ide vscode

Connect from phone (Termius + Tailscale)

1. SSH into WSL2: 100.109.194.122:22 (user: sean)
2. Run claudes — shows interactive menu of sessions + workspaces
3. Pick a workspace → auto-launches tmux → Claude Code

Connect from WSL host

claudes                        # Always shows interactive menu (detected workspace shown as hint)
claudes alerts                 # Connect to alerts workspace (shows menu if sessions exist)
claudes rcom frontend          # Connect to rcom-frontend session
claudes --local                # Local tmux session in current dir (no DevPod)
claudes --local mywork         # Local tmux session named "mywork"
claudes --list                 # List all workspaces + status

claudes always shows an interactive menu — it never auto-connects. When sessions already exist inside a container, you choose between attaching to an existing session or creating a new one. New sessions are named sequentially: rcom, rcom-2, rcom-3.

Manage workspaces

devpod list                                    # Show all workspaces
devpod stop alerts                             # Stop (saves resources)
devpod up ~/git_wsl/alerts --ide none          # Restart
devpod delete alerts                           # Remove entirely

tmux controls

Action	Keys
Detach (session persists)	Ctrl+b, d
New window	Ctrl+b, c
Switch window	Ctrl+b, 0-9
Scroll up (enter copy mode)	Mouse wheel up
Select text (copy to clipboard)	Click + drag
Copy mode (keyboard)	Ctrl+b, [
Exit copy mode	q
Paste	Ctrl+b, ] or right-click

Updating Running Containers

After editing dotfiles, deploy changes to all running DevPod containers:

bash ~/git_wsl/dotfiles/scripts/deploy.sh

This pushes .tmux.conf, claudes, .bashrc, and .bashrc.d/ to all running containers in parallel, reloads tmux if active, and updates the host-side claudes script at ~/.local/bin/claudes.

New containers automatically get the latest dotfiles via devpod up (DevPod clones this repo and runs install.sh).

Installation

Prerequisites

• WSL2 (Ubuntu 24.04)
• Docker Desktop (or Docker Engine in WSL)
• DevPod CLI (/usr/local/bin/devpod)
• Tailscale (for phone access)
• openssh-server in WSL (for phone access via Termius)

1. Clone the dotfiles repo

git clone https://github.com/mccarthysean/dotfiles.git ~/git_wsl/dotfiles

2. Configure DevPod to use dotfiles (one-time)

devpod provider set-options docker DOTFILES_URL=https://github.com/mccarthysean/dotfiles
devpod context set-options -o DOTFILES_SCRIPT=install.sh

Every new devpod up will now clone this repo into the container and run install.sh automatically — installing tmux, Claude Code, claudes, .bashrc, and .tmux.conf.

3. Install the host-side claudes script

The host-side script lives on your WSL machine (not inside containers). It handles workspace discovery, auto-detection, and SSH tunneling into DevPod containers.

# First time install (or use deploy.sh for updates):
bash ~/git_wsl/dotfiles/scripts/deploy.sh

Ensure ~/.local/bin is in your PATH (add to ~/.bashrc if needed):

export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

4. Set up persistent Claude Code authentication (one-time)

Generate a long-lived OAuth token so containers don't require browser auth on every rebuild:

claude setup-token

Save the token to ~/.claude/.setup-token:

mkdir -p ~/.claude
echo "YOUR_TOKEN_HERE" > ~/.claude/.setup-token
chmod 600 ~/.claude/.setup-token

The host-side claudes reads this token and passes it via CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN env var through SSH, so containers authenticate automatically.

5. Create your first DevPod workspace

devpod up ~/git_wsl/myproject --ide none

Then connect:

claudes    # Interactive menu shows the new workspace

Files

dotfiles/
├── install.sh          # Main installer (runs in every new container)
├── .bashrc             # Shell config (history, aliases, auto-venv, sources .bashrc.d/)
├── .tmux.conf          # tmux config (mouse scroll/drag, OSC 52 clipboard, status top)
├── bin/
│   ├── claudes         # Container-side tmux session manager
│   ├── claudes-host    # Host-side (WSL) orchestrator
│   └── claude-session  # symlink → claudes (backwards compat)
├── .bashrc.d/
│   └── *.sh            # Bash snippets (PATH, auto-launch on login)
└── scripts/
    └── deploy.sh       # Push dotfiles updates to running containers + host

Safety

All devcontainers use sleep infinity as their command — no production services (inserters, schedulers, MQTT listeners, web servers) auto-start. Development servers must be launched manually inside each container.