Devbox Shell: Your Dev Environment, Your Rules

So you’ve installed Devbox with that nifty one-liner:

curl -fsSL https://get.jetify.com/devbox | bash

Now what? It’s time to run your own shell, and Devbox gives you two flavors: local and global. Let’s break ’em down.

Devbox Local: Isolation is Bliss

Want to create a bubble where you can install and run anything without messing up your system? Devbox Local is your new best friend.

Here’s how it works:

1. Navigate to your project:

   cd path/to/your/awesome/project
   

2. Initialize Devbox:

   devbox init
   

   This creates two magical files: devbox.json and devbox.lock. Think of them as the blueprint and the snapshot of your environment.

3. Add packages:

   devbox search go
   devbox add go
   

   Your devbox.json now looks something like this:

   {
     "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jetify-com/devbox/0.12.0/.schema/devbox.schema.json",
     "packages": ["go@latest"],
     "shell": {
       "init_hook": [
         "echo 'Welcome to devbox!' > /dev/null"
       ],
       "scripts": {
         "test": [
           "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
         ]
       }
     }
   }
   

4. Fire up your shell:

   devbox shell
   

   Want true isolation? Use devbox shell --pure. It’s like your shell went into witness protection - new identity, no baggage.

Devbox Global: Your System, Supercharged

Want to use Devbox as your primary package manager? Devbox Global has got your back.

Here’s the secret sauce:

1. Add this to your shell’s RC file (like ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc):

   eval "$(devbox global shellenv)"
   

2. Restart your terminal or run source ~/.zshrc (or whatever your RC file is).

3. Start adding packages globally:

   devbox global add go
   

4. If you see a warning about your shell being out of date, just run:

   refresh-global
   

Wondering where all this magic happens? Try:

which go
# or
devbox global path

You’ll likely see something like ~/.local/share/devbox/global/default/. That’s where Devbox keeps its global configuration.

The Bottom Line

Whether you go local or global, Devbox gives you the power to create the perfect development environment. No more “it works on my machine” nightmares. Just pure, predictable, awesome shells.

So what are you waiting for? Fire up Devbox and start building something amazing.

References

• Installing Devbox
• Create a Dev Environment with Devbox
• Use Devbox as your Primary Package Manager
• Nix Shell: The Foundation