in vscode how do I set the default container

Question

Looking at the vscode documentation https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/containers and section

3. After picking the starting point for your container, VS Code will add the dev container configuration files to your project (.devcontainer/devcontainer.json).

I can see that the correct container is launched each time, but I do not see a reference to it in the .devcontainer/devcontainer.json

{
    "name": "myContainer",
    "build": {
        "dockerfile": "Dockerfile"
    },
    "runArgs": [
        "--cap-add=SYS_PTRACE",
        "--security-opt",
        "seccomp=unconfined"
    ],
    // Set *default* container specific settings.json values on container create.
    "settings": {
        "terminal.integrated.shell.linux": "/bin/bash",
        "lldb.executable": "/usr/bin/lldb",
        // VS Code don't watch files under ./target
        "files.watcherExclude": {
            "**/target/**": true
        }
    },
    // Add the IDs of extensions you want installed when the container is created.
    "extensions": [
        "bungcip.better-toml"
    ],
    // Use 'postCreateCommand' to run commands after the container is created.
    // "postCreateCommand": "rustc --version",
    // Comment out connect as root instead. More info: https://aka.ms/vscode-remote/containers/non-root.
    "remoteUser": "vscode"
}

then in section https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/containers#_create-a-devcontainerjson-file

"image": "mcr.microsoft.com/vscode/devcontainers/typescript-node:0-12",

If I am using docker desktop on windows how do format the uri to match the docker desktop container location? for example a docker ps -a returns a NAME of interesting_mccarth. I do not see how the above string matches to my container I wish to use as default.

Answer 1

In your example, the devcontainer.json file references the Dockerfile and it is the Dockerfile that references the image to use.

"build": {
    "dockerfile": "Dockerfile"
}

So whether it is a local or remote image that you want to reference inside your Dockerfile is really up to you. Here is an SO answer describing how to use a local image inside a Dockerfile.