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agent-container/README.md
Jeena e91b74ea38 tools: Install on first use instead of baking them into the image 
Baked installs had two failure modes: anything installed into $HOME
at build time is shadowed by the container-home bind mount at runtime,
and system-wide installs are root-owned, so the tools' own update
commands (pi update, claude update, opencode upgrade) failed with an
unwritable install path. With pi releasing new versions almost daily,
the only remedy, a full image rebuild that also deleted every
container, was too heavy for that cadence.

Now each tool is installed at runtime into the persistent container
home by its official installer (no sudo), the same way the Docker
image itself is built on first use. Self-updates work inside the
container and survive image rebuilds and container recreation. The
image shrinks to a plain Arch base, and agent-container update no
longer removes containers, so sudo-installed project dependencies
survive it too.

docker exec now attaches a TTY only when stdin is one, so scripted
runs like 'pi -p' work without a terminal.
2026-09-18 08:38:23 +09:00

8.9 KiB
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agent-container

Run OpenCode, Claude Code, and Pi (pi.dev) inside a shared Arch Linux Docker container that closely mirrors a local development environment, while limiting access to sensitive files on the host.

Features

  • Tools are not baked into the image: OpenCode, Claude Code, and Pi are bootstrapped into the persistent container home on first use (official installers, no sudo), so pi update, claude update, and opencode upgrade work inside the container
  • Runs as the host user (same username, UID, GID)
  • Per-project isolation: Each project gets its own container (identified by project path hash)
  • Shared persistent home: All containers mount the same home directory from XDG_DATA_HOME, allowing tools and credentials to persist across projects
  • Sudo access: Agents can install project-specific dependencies that persist in the stopped container
  • Hard linking support: Can hard link files like ~/.gitconfig to share configurations with containers
  • Local variants: opencode-local, claude-local, and pi-local run the tools directly on the host, bypassing the container
  • Mounts only the current project directory (same absolute path inside container)
  • Security boundary: No access to SSH keys, passwords, or full $HOME (intentionally prevents remote code pushes)

Install

On a fresh machine, two steps are all it takes. The agent tools themselves are not part of the image and need no installation step: on first use, agent-container.py automatically runs each tool's official installer inside the container (no sudo), just like it builds the Docker image automatically if it is missing.

cd ~/Projects/
git clone https://git.jeena.net/jeena/agent-container.git

Source the helper file agent.aliases in your shell configuration (.bashrc or .zshrc):

source ~/Projects/agent-container/agent.aliases

This makes the opencode, claude, pi, and agent-container commands available in new sessions, plus the opencode-local, claude-local, and pi-local variants that run the tools directly on the host.

That is the whole install. From any project directory, opencode, claude, and pi now work: the first run installs the tool into the persistent container home, where logins (via /login), settings, and history persist across projects, containers, and image rebuilds.

Optional: share agent state with the host

By default, host and container keep separate state: the tools live entirely in the container home, and nothing in your real $HOME is moved or linked. If you also run the tools on the host (the *-local variants) and want shared logins, settings, and history, run the setup script once:

~/Projects/agent-container/setup.sh

It shows a plan first and asks for confirmation before moving anything (--dry-run previews without changes, --yes skips the question). Existing state is moved into the container home and symlinked back into $HOME. See "Sharing agent state between host and container via symlinks" below. The script is safe to re-run and skips items it cannot handle safely.

Optional extras

# Share your git config with the containers (hard link):
ln ~/.gitconfig ~/.local/share/agent-container/container-home/.gitconfig

# Desktop notifications when OpenCode needs attention:
mkdir -p ~/.local/share/agent-container/container-home/.config/opencode/plugins
cp plugins/opencode/osc99-notify.js \
   ~/.local/share/agent-container/container-home/.config/opencode/plugins/

The container home directory at $XDG_DATA_HOME/agent-container/container-home/ serves as a central $HOME inside every container, independent of which project directory you start in. Everything written to $HOME inside the container persists there.

Environment Variables

Host environment variables matching the following prefixes are automatically forwarded into the container:

  • OPENCODE_* -- passed through to OpenCode
  • ANTHROPIC_*, CLAUDE_* -- passed through to Claude Code
  • PI_* plus provider key prefixes (ANTHROPIC_*, OPENAI_*, GEMINI_*, GROQ_*, OLLAMA_*, and others) -- passed through to Pi. Alternatively log in once with /login inside the container; credentials persist in the shared container home.

This means inline overrides work as expected: OPENCODE_CONFIG=foo opencode

For persistent environment variables, add them to container-home/.bashrc (or .bash_profile / .profile). Tools run through bash -l inside the container, so standard shell config files are sourced automatically. Default shell config files from /etc/skel are seeded into the container home on first run.

  • XDG_DATA_HOME: Override default data directory (default: ~/.local/share)

Usage

From any project directory:

# Run OpenCode
opencode

# Run Claude Code
claude

# Run Pi
pi

# Run a tool directly on the host, bypassing the container
opencode-local

The image is built automatically on first use if it does not already exist. The tool starts inside the container with the current directory mounted and set as the working directory.

Updating

The tools are not part of the image: on first use, each tool's official installer runs inside the container (no sudo) and installs into the persistent container home. They update themselves there, and updates survive container recreation and image rebuilds:

agent-container pi update        # or run `pi update` inside a session
agent-container claude update
agent-container opencode upgrade

To rebuild the base image with a fresh Arch Linux userland:

agent-container update

This rebuilds the image with a freshly pulled base but keeps all existing containers and everything installed in them. The persistent home directory is not affected.

Purge

To remove all containers, the image, and the persistent home directory:

agent-container purge

Note that this also deletes the shared agent state that lives in the container home (.claude, .pi, ...). The symlinks in your $HOME will dangle afterwards.

Sharing host config files via hard links

The container home at ~/.local/share/agent-container/container-home/ is mounted as /home/<username> inside every container. You can hard link files from your real $HOME into this directory so the container sees them without copying or syncing.

Because both paths live on the same filesystem, a hard link means they are literally the same file -- changes from either side are instantly reflected.

Example for .gitconfig:

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/agent-container/container-home
ln ~/.gitconfig ~/.local/share/agent-container/container-home/.gitconfig

Avoid linking sensitive files such as ~/.ssh/id_* or ~/.gnupg/ -- keeping those out of the container is an intentional security boundary.

Sharing agent state between host and container via symlinks

The repository ships a setup.sh script that automates the following for .claude, .claude.json, .pi, .agents, and the OpenCode state directories. The manual recipe for any other directory looks like this:

State directories such as .claude/, .pi/, or .agents/ can be shared between the containerized tools (claude, pi, opencode) and their local variants (claude-local, pi-local, opencode-local). Keep the real data in the container home and symlink to it from your real $HOME:

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/agent-container/container-home
mv ~/.claude ~/.local/share/agent-container/container-home/.claude
ln -s ~/.local/share/agent-container/container-home/.claude ~/.claude

The direction matters: the real directory must live in the container home, and the symlink must be in the host $HOME. The container mounts the container home as /home/<username>, so inside the container the path is a regular directory. The host $HOME is never mounted into the container, so a symlink pointing the other way would not resolve inside the container.

On the host, ~/.claude resolves to the same data the container sees, so logins, settings, and history are shared by both sides without copying or syncing. The same works for single files like .claude.json if a tool needs them on the host too. Repeat the two steps for other state directories (.pi, .agents, .config/opencode, ...) as needed.

If XDG_DATA_HOME is set to a non-default location, use that path instead. As with hard links, never share sensitive files such as ~/.ssh/id_* or ~/.gnupg/.

OpenCode plugins

The repository ships an OpenCode plugin in plugins/opencode/:

  • osc99-notify.js: sends desktop notifications via the OSC 99 escape sequence when OpenCode needs attention (idle, question, permission prompt, error). Notifications only fire while the terminal is unfocused. Tested with Kitty.

To enable it inside the container, copy it into the OpenCode plugin directory of the container home:

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/agent-container/container-home/.config/opencode/plugins
cp plugins/opencode/osc99-notify.js \
   ~/.local/share/agent-container/container-home/.config/opencode/plugins/