In Visual Studio Code, it is possible to recommend extensions for a project by listing them in the file .vscode/extensions.json.
For Dev Containers, it is possible to automatically install extensions upon creation of the container by listing them in the file devcontainer.json.
I would like for all the recommended extensions to be installed in the Dev Container. Is it possible to install extensions in the Dev Container based on .vscode/extensions.json and not have to maintain the list of extensions in two places?
No, unfortunately there’s nothing in the spec that lets you pull those values from another file, you just have to copy them yourself.
source: https://containers.dev/implementors/json_schema/#main-schema