Devcontainer not pulling branch from github URL

[joezappie]

Does this issue occur when all extensions are disabled?: Yes/No
Yes

• VS Code Version: 1.96.3
• OS Version: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26100

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Create a devcontainer project and commit to github.
2. Create a branch in project
3. Copy URL from github
4. Open Command Palette and use "Clone Repository in Container Volume"
5. Paste https://github.com/OWNER/REPO/tree/BRANCH
6. Open dev container and view that it opens the main branch

Additional Info:

In the vscode documentation it specifically states that you can open from github url, branch url or PR url. I've actually tried this for years and never had it work and just switch branches manually once it opens. Would be great to know why this doesnt work though

Developing Inside a Container

Enter microsoft/vscode-remote-try-node (or one of the other "try" repositories), a Git URI, a GitHub branch URL, or a GitHub PR URL in the input box that appears and press Enter.

My repo is a private repo. My branch has the same files as my main branch. I have previously opened my main branch as a devcontainer.

[vs-code-engineering]

Thanks for creating this issue! It looks like you may be using an old version of VS Code, the latest stable release is 1.99.3. Please try upgrading to the latest version and checking whether this issue remains.

Happy Coding!

[joezappie]

I suspected its because I had previously cloned my main branch, which is the case. I went into docker and deleted all my containers and images for my project and the next time I cloned it using the branch URL it properly cloned it. Is that intended behavior?

Also happens on the latest version of vscode.

[joezappie]

I thought this might have to do with the devcontainer.json having the same name so I made a github action to update that on push to match the branch. This did not help.

As long as a container volume exists for the repo as a whole, it will reuse it even if given a branch or PR. This seems counter intuitive and goes against isolating your environments. I should be able to have my own feature branch that I'm working on, and if another coworker wants me to try out some code on their feature branch, I should be able to open it as another isolated dev container while leaving mine exactly how I left it. Instead it just opens mine with no code changes and I'd have to switch to their branch inside my devcontainer.

What I did notice, is if I try to pull a different branch with a different devcontainer.json name, VS code does use that name in the UI, but the files are not from that branch. Theres some funky file mixing going on here which is concerning. It reads the branches devcontainer, pulls out the name to show on the UI, but then shows a completely different file system.

Shows name of feature branch, but then actual file shows my main branch devcontainer.json.

[lszomoru]

@chrmarti, could you please take an initial look at this? Thanks!

[chrmarti]

The request makes sense. Not all users might prefer the suggested behavior, but we could add it behind a setting.

[vs-code-engineering]

This feature request is now a candidate for our backlog. The community has 60 days to upvote the issue. If it receives 10 upvotes we will move it to our backlog. If not, we will close it. To learn more about how we handle feature requests, please see our documentation.

Happy Coding!

[Arithmomaniac]

This feature request is now a candidate for our backlog. The community has 60 days to upvote the issue. If it receives 10 upvotes we will move it to our backlog. If not, we will close it. To learn more about how we handle feature requests, please see our documentation.

Happy Coding!

To be clear, the feature would be the general behavior proposed in #10946 (comment) for multiple containers per repository, not just something GitHub-specific?