Make .devcontainer and .vscode port references configurable
Author: pamelafoxCreated Jun 26, 2026Updated Sep 18, 2026
Labelsenhancement
Summary
Follow-up to #3116. The .devcontainer/devcontainer.json port forwarding and .vscode/tasks.json / .vscode/launch.json still hardcode port 50505. These should ideally be configurable for parallel worktree usage.
Context
PR #3117 made app/start.sh, app/start.ps1, and app/frontend/vite.config.ts configurable via PORT and BACKEND_PORT env vars. However, VS Code config files don't natively support env vars with defaults, making this non-trivial.
Files affected
.vscode/tasks.json(line 62):"-p", "50505".vscode/launch.json(line 25):"-p 50505".devcontainer/devcontainer.json(line 27): port forwarding
Challenges
VS Code's variable substitution (${env:PORT}) resolves to empty string when the env var is unset — there's no way to specify a default. Possible approaches:
- Accept that each worktree edits their own
.vscode/files (since each worktree has its own copy) - Require developers to set
PORTbefore opening VS Code (PORT=50506 code .) - Use a VS Code extension or input variable (adds friction)
Acceptance criteria
- Developers running two worktrees can use different ports without manual edits, OR clear documentation explains how to change the port per-worktree.
Source: Azure-Samples/azure-search-openai-demo