Workspaces ADR 001: Configuration format to use

Context

To provide a development environment which is reproducible and ephemeral, users need to be able to define their environment in a configuration format. We can choose between adopting an existing development environment configuration format or defining our own.

Decision

We decided to use devfile configuration format because it is highly configurable and it has tools built around it which makes integration easier for us e.g. devfile-library convert devfile to Kubernetes resources.

We will start with devfiles and eventually add support for other configuration formats(e.g. devcontainer) as we receive feedback.

Consequences

Using devfiles means a focus on Kubernetes. This is acceptable for now since the architecture utilizes it.

Alternatives

For a detailed comparison, see Comparison of devfiles and devcontainers.

We did not consider adding a new configuration format because we are too early in the development stage to know what the requirements would look like and defining a standard at this point would be premature.