dev - the personal project tool

I follow the same set of steps with every personal project:

• create a folder
• write a readme with the basic idea
• install the required language runtime/compiler
• install dependencies
• write code
• create a journal.md and start tracking my thoughts as I work on the project.

I’ve also created a docker container for the project so I dont have to worry about installing system-wide runtimes (e.g., ruby) for just one project. so I’d like to make a tool that does this kind of thing for every project so its self-contained.

Requirements

1. Create a new project, which sets up:
   • a folder with readme and journal.
   • a related docker image with a sane default docker file and shared volume
   • git init’d repo.
2. Interactive use of the container during coding sessions without knowing details of docker commands to do so.
3. Ability to install software in the container and have it become part of the container image, either as a snapshot or (preferably) as declarative updates to the dockerfile.
4. Non functional: Use a container library that does not need root access, such as podman.
5. Push whole project to github/gitlab/etc
6. (Nice to have) Support for multi-component projects. Each component would be an independent project on its own, but work together to form a cohesive solution. For example, a set of microservices that form an ecommerce site would be multiple components in a single project.

Mockup of UX

In what follows dev is a stand-in name for the tool proposed.

• Creating a new project:

    dev new  
  

  … creates a folder , adds a README.mdand journal.md. It then spins up a docker container using as the base docker image, eg, alpine linux. It also sets up the shared volume used to manipulate the project’s files.

• Work on the project:

    dev do [] --save-changes // prjname optional if already in folder
  

  …(re)starts the docker container and keeps it ready for interactive use. --save-changes saves any updates to the image for future sessions

• Change code: use standard IDE features, edits are done in shared host folder, which is mirrored in guest via the shared volume.
• Change environment of project: Use standard executables in guest OS.
• Source version control: use standard git commands
• Publish project to Github/et al: Use standard git commands.

Implementation thoughts

As described, this looks like a thin shell script veneer over docker/podman, and that’s probably not a bad thing (TM). The only interesting/complicated bit might be the ability to reify cli commands run within the container as dockerfile commands. However, I wonder if that too might be too much. Exactly how reproducible should every step in this process be, especially if it starts with downloading a binary?