How can I easily install and persist vscode extensions with Theia within Docker container?

[khanetor]

I am trying to setup a remote IDE that I can access via the internet. I am using Podman with Systemd, and every night, my system will automatically restart and pull new updates. So, all the extensions that I installed are lost.
With code-server, I mitigate this issue by putting in the Dockerfile the following lines

RUN code-server --install-extension <extension id>

With Theia, I cannot find the equivalent command, so I have to do this instead

RUN wget https://open-vsx.org/api/rangav/vscode-thunder-client/2.37.5/file/rangav.vscode-thunder-client-2.37.5.vsix
RUN unzip rangav.vscode-thunder-client-2.37.5.vsix -d vscode.thunderclient                                         
RUN rm rangav.vscode-thunder-client-2.37.5.vsix

This works! But this is quite verbose, and imagine I have to do this for tens of extensions, it can be a lot of urls. Does anyone have another suggestion?

[msujew]

Hey @khanetor,

Theia offers the same --install-extension argument as VS Code/Coder:

theia/packages/vsx-registry/src/node/vsx-cli.ts

Lines 33 to 37 in b89f0f8

	conf.option('install-plugin', {
	alias: 'install-extension',
	nargs: 1,
	desc: 'Installs or updates a plugin. Argument is a path to the *.vsix file or a plugin id of the form "publisher.name[@version]"'
	});

Alternatively, you can always just mount the ~/.theia directory to ensure that installed extensions are stored in persistent storage.

[khanetor]

Hi @msujew ,
What is the command to run? I know that --install-extension is the option, but we need a command, and theia does not exist in the docker image.

[msujew]

You can simply supply the argument to the start call of the backend. I.e. node <app>/lib/backend/main.js --install-extension ....