Copilot CLI: Built-in devcontainer support for multi-environment workflows

[AndreasKuhner]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Product Feedback

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Copilot Agent Mode

Body

Hello all,

When working with multiple dev containers simultaneously (e.g., different ROS 2 workspaces, microservices, or multi-robot setups), there's currently no way to target a specific running devcontainer from the Copilot CLI agent overview.

Current behavior:

The CLI agent operates strictly within the terminal session it was started in. To use it inside a devcontainer, you must open a separate VS Code window attached to that container and start a new CLI session there.

Desired behavior:

Ability to list/select running devcontainers from the CLI (e.g., /devcontainer list, /devcontainer attach )
Run commands, edit files, and delegate sub-agents into a specific container context
Optionally: see all active agent sessions across containers in one overview

Use case:

I run multiple devcontainers for a robotics workspace (build container, simulation container, hardware container). Being able to switch agent context between them — or spawn sub-agents inside specific containers — would significantly streamline multi-environment development without juggling multiple VS Code windows.
On top, now that there is the Agents Window that would be awesome to have everything at one spot (and that it might even carry info from on agent to the other...)

Cheers,
Andreas

[github-actions[bot]]

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[mlsecdev]

@AndreasKuhner +1, this is a real pain point for robotics/multiservice setups.

Current workaround I use for multi-devcontainer Copilot CLI:

1. Use devcontainer exec from host:

devcontainer exec --workspace-folder /path/to/container1 -- bash -c "gh copilot suggest '...'"