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+# Dev container features reference
+
+Dev container features provide a smooth path for customizing your container definitions. Features are self contained units of code meant to facilitate creation of custom images for application or development containers.
+
+From a practical point of view, features are folders that contain units of code with different entrypoints for different lifecycle events.
+
+Features can be defined by a `devcontainer-feature.json` file in the root folder of the feature. The file is optional for backwards compatibility but it is required for any new features being authored.
+
+Features are to be executed in sequence as defined in `devcontainer.json`.
+
+## Folder Structure 
+
+A feature is a self contained entity in a folder. A feature release would be a tar file that contains all files part of the feature.
+
+```
++-- feature
+|    +-- devcontainer-feature.json
+|    +-- install.sh (default)
+|    +-- (other files)
+```
+
+In case `devcontainer-feature.json`  does not include a reference for the lifecycle scripts the application will look for the default script names and will execute them if available.
+
+In case there is intent to create a set of features that share code, it is possible to create a feature collection in the following way:
+
+```
+collectionFolder
++-- devcontainer-collection.json
++-- common (or similar)
+|    +-- (library files)
++-- feature1
+|    +-- devcontainer-feature.json
+|    +-- install.sh
+|    +-- (other files)
++-- feature2
+(etc)
+```
+
+
+## devcontainer-feature.json properties
+
+the `devcontainer-feature.json` file defines information about the feature to be used by any supporting tools and the way the feature will be executed.
+
+The properties of the file are as follows:
+
+| Property | Type | Description |
+| :--- | :--- | :--- |
+| id | string | Id of the feature/definition. The id should be unique in the context of the repository/published package where the feature exists. |
+| name | string | Name of the feature/definition. |
+| description | string | Description of the feature/definition. |
+| documentationURL | string | Url that points to the documentation of the feature. |
+| licenseURL | string | Url that points to the license of the feature. |
+| version | string | Version of the feature. |
+| keywords | array | List of keywords relevant to a user that would search for this definition/feature. |
+| install.app | string | App to execute.|
+| install.file | string | Parameters/script to execute (defaults to install.sh).|
+| options | object | Possible options to be passed as environment variables to the execution of the scripts |
+| containerEnv | object | A set of name value pairs that sets or overrides environment variables. |
+| privileged | boolean | If priveleged mode is required by the feature. |
+| init | boolean | If it's necesarry to run `init`. |
+| capAdd | array | Additional capabilities needed by the feature. |
+| securityOpt | array | Security options needed by the feature. |
+| entrypoint | string | Set if the feature requires an entrypoint. |
+
+Options
+
+| Property | Type | Description |
+| :--- | :--- | :--- |
+| id | string | Id of the option. |
+| id.type | string | Type of the option. |
+| id.enum | string array | Possible values. |
+| id.default | string | Default value for the option. |
+| id.description | string | Description for the option. |
+
+## devcontainer-collection.json properties
+
+A feature collection file is a compilation of the `devcontainer-feature.json` files for each individual feature. It inlines all the information in each `devcontainer-feature.json` for each feature.
+
+If the application finds a `devcontainer-collection.json` file in the root of a downloaded tar file, then it uses that file to find the particular feature that will be executed.
+
+In addition to the list of features included, the file includes the following properties.
+
+| Property | Type | Description |
+| :--- | :--- | :--- |
+| name | string | Name of the collection. |
+| reference | string | Reference information of the repository and path where the code is stored. |
+| version | string | Version of the code. |
+
+In most cases, the `devcontainer-collection.json` file can be generated automatically at the moment of creating a release.
+
+## devcontainer.json properties
+
+Features are referenced in `devcontainer.json` , where the `features` tag consists of an array with the ordered list of features to be included in the container image.
+
+The properties are:
+| Property | Type | Description |
+| :--- | :--- | :--- |
+| id | string | Reference to the particular feature to be included. |
+| options | object | Type of the option .|
+
+The `id` is the main reference point for how to find and download a particular feature. `id` can be defined in any of the following ways:
+
+| Type | Description |
+| :--- | :--- |
+| feature  | A simple name referencing a feature; it's included with the application used to execute `devcontainer.json`.|
+| organization/repository/{feature or collectionl/feature}/@version | Reference to a particular release in a repository. |
+| https://<../URI/..>/devcontainer-features.tgz#{optional feature} | Direct reference to a file download. |
+| ./{local-path}  -or-  ../{local-path} | A path relative to devcontainer.json where a feature or feature collection can be found. |
+
+## Authoring
+
+Features can be authored in a number of languages, the most straightforward being bash scripts. If a feature is authored in a different language information about it should be included in the metadata so that users can make an informed choice about it.
+
+Reference information about the application required to execute the feature should be included in `devcontainer-feature.json` in the metadata section.
+
+Applications should default to `/bin/sh` for features that do not include this information.
+
+If the feature is included in a folder as part of the repository that contains `devcontainer.json`, no other steps are necessary.
+
+## Release
+
+A release is created when the objective is to have other users use a feature.
+
+A release consists of the following:
+
+1.- Tar file with all the included files for the feature or feature collection.
+2.- A copy of the `devcontainer-feature.json` or `devcontainer-collection.json` file that defines the contents of the tar file, with additional information added to validate it.
+
+| Property | Type | Description |
+| :--- | :--- | :--- |
+| version | string | SemVer version of the release. |
+| checksum | string | Checksum of the tar file. |
+
+## Execution
+
+There are several things to keep in mind for an application that implements features:
+
+- Features are executed in the order defined in devcontainer.json
+- It should be possible to execute a feature multiple times with different parameters.
+- Features are used to create an image that can be used to create a container or not.
+- Parameters like `privileged`, `init` are included if just 1 feature requires them.
+- Parameters like `capAdd`, `securityOp`  are concatenated.
+- ContainerEnv is added before the feature is executed as `ENV` commands in the docker file.
+- Features are added to an image in two passes. One for `aquire` scripts and another for `install` scripts.
+- Each script executes as its own layer to aid in caching and rebuilding.
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