Container Mode

Container Mode

mode: container is the default. wip declares every container itself in wip.yml and drives wslc directly — no compose.yml, no external binary.

Use it when your project has no compose.yml (or when you'd rather not have one). If you already have a compose file, see Compose Native Mode or Compose Mode.

Minimal config

version: 1
mode: container
container: app
dependencies:
  app:
    image: your/image:tag
    workdir: /app

Full example

version: 1
mode: container            # default; may be omitted
wslc:
  command: auto            # wslc.exe → wslc → /mnt/c/Windows/System32/wslc.exe
container: app             # required once dependencies: has entries
network: app-tier          # optional; shared by every dependencies: entry
dependencies:
  app:                     # the primary container — container: points here
    image: slidict/slidict:development
    workdir: /app
    interactive: false
    remove: true
    command: server        # extra args appended when `wip up` creates it
    env:
      RAILS_ENV: development
      PORT: "3000"
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    volumes:
      - ".:/app"
  redis:
    image: redis:latest
  development.mysql:
    image: mysql:8.0
    command: --default-authentication-plugin=mysql_native_password
    restart: unless-stopped
    env:
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: password
      MYSQL_DATABASE: development
interaction:
  rails:
    type: exec
    command: bin/rails
    interactive: true
  rspec:
    command: bundle exec rspec
  migrate:
    type: run
    command: bundle exec rails db:migrate
    remove: true
  build:
    type: build
    context: .
    tag: slidict/slidict:development
sync:
  exclude:
    - .git
    - tmp/
    - node_modules/

Keys available in this mode

Key	Page
version:, mode:, wslc:	Config File Discovery
container:, dependencies:	Dependencies
network:	Networking
interaction: / commands:	Interactions
dependencies.*.restart:	Restart Policies
sync:	Source Sync

compose: is not available here — a compose: block requires mode: compose or mode: compose-native.

What each command does in this mode

Command	Behavior
wip up	create network → start sidecars → mirror source → start primary
wip stop	wslc stop on the primary, then each sidecar
wip down	wslc remove -f on the primary, then each sidecar; network is left in place
wip exec	wslc exec into the primary container
wip run	real wslc run --rm — a fresh, ephemeral container
wip build	builds from the build interaction's context/tag
wip logs	not available (compose modes only)
wip sync	defaults to sync.mode: exec
wip up --watch	available

Primary vs. sidecar

dependencies: holds every container uniformly — there is no separate, differently-shaped block for "the one you exec into." What sets the primary entry apart is purely operational:

• wip up starts every other entry first (by name), then the primary one, so the app can resolve redis / development.mysql by their dependency names.
• exec, run, build, shell, and interactions only ever target the primary entry.
• Sidecars are only started and stopped.

Details and the per-key reference: Dependencies.

Generating this shape

wip init            # writes mode: container when no compose.yml is found
wip init --template rails

See wip init.