Migrate from DevPod¶

This guide helps you move from DevPod to devbox. Both tools solve the same problem — self-hosted dev environments — but devbox is actively maintained and adds features DevPod lacks.

Why migrate?¶

DevPod's last release was June 2024. devbox is actively developed with regular releases.

	DevPod	devbox
Status	Abandoned (last release June 2024)	Active development (v1.0.0)
Networking	Manual port forwarding	Tailscale (automatic HTTPS, DNS)
Multi-server	Single provider	Server pools with auto-selection
Monitoring	None	Built-in metrics + TUI dashboard
Snapshots	None	Built-in snapshot/restore
Plugins	Provider-based	Provider + Hook system
CI/CD	None	GitHub Actions PR previews
Templates	devcontainer only	devbox templates + community registry

Concept Mapping¶

DevPod	devbox	Notes
Workspace	Workspace	Same concept
Provider (Docker, SSH, Cloud)	Server pool	devbox uses SSH + Docker on any server
`devcontainer.json`	`devbox.yaml`	devbox also reads devcontainer.json
`devpod up`	`devbox up`	Almost identical usage
`devpod ssh`	`devbox ssh`	Same concept
`devpod delete`	`devbox destroy`	Same concept
Desktop app	`devbox tui`	Terminal-based dashboard

Step-by-Step Migration¶

1. Export your current setup¶

Note your DevPod workspace configurations — you'll recreate them as devbox.yaml files.

# Check your current DevPod workspaces
devpod list

2. Install devbox¶

curl -fsSL https://github.com/junixlabs/devbox/releases/latest/download/devbox-linux-amd64 -o devbox
chmod +x devbox && sudo mv devbox /usr/local/bin/

3. Set up Tailscale (if not already)¶

The main difference from DevPod: devbox uses Tailscale for networking instead of manual SSH tunnels.

On both your machine and server:

curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh
sudo tailscale up

4. Convert your workspace config¶

Before (DevPod with devcontainer.json):

{
  "name": "my-app",
  "image": "mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/go:1.22",
  "forwardPorts": [8080, 5432],
  "postCreateCommand": "go mod download"
}

After (devbox.yaml):

name: my-app
server: dev1
repo: git@github.com:your-org/my-app.git
services:
  - postgres:15
ports:
  app: 8080
  postgres: 5432
env:
  GOPATH: /go

Or use a template:

devbox init --template go

5. Add your server¶

devbox server add dev1 100.64.0.1
devbox doctor --server dev1

6. Create workspace¶

cd ~/projects/my-app
devbox up

7. Connect¶

devbox ssh my-app
# or
zed ssh://dev1/workspaces/my-app

Command Comparison¶

DevPod	devbox	Description
`devpod up`	`devbox up`	Create/start workspace
`devpod ssh`	`devbox ssh`	Connect to workspace
`devpod stop`	`devbox stop`	Stop workspace
`devpod delete`	`devbox destroy`	Remove workspace
`devpod list`	`devbox list`	List workspaces
`devpod provider add`	`devbox server add`	Add infrastructure
—	`devbox doctor`	Health checks
—	`devbox snapshot`	Save workspace state
—	`devbox stats`	Resource metrics
—	`devbox tui`	Interactive dashboard
—	`devbox template search`	Community templates
—	`devbox ci preview-up`	PR preview workspaces

What you gain¶

Active maintenance — regular updates and bug fixes
Tailscale networking — automatic HTTPS, DNS, no manual port forwarding
Server pools — distribute workspaces across multiple servers
Snapshots — save and restore workspace state
Monitoring — real-time metrics and TUI dashboard
CI/CD integration — PR preview workspaces out of the box
Plugin system — extend with custom providers and lifecycle hooks
Community templates — share and discover workspace configurations