Nub — Fast TypeScript/Node Toolchain (nub)

Installs nub: a single Rust binary that runs TypeScript/JavaScript files, package.json scripts, and local CLIs directly on top of the Node.js and package manager already in the container — no new runtime, no lock-in.

Why this feature exists

nub is explicitly not a replacement runtime: “runs on the node and package manager you already have.” It accelerates three things that are normally slow because of Node’s own CLI-wrapper overhead:

• Running a .ts/.js file directly (nub file.ts) — faster startup than tsx/ts-node, full tsconfig.json support.
• Running a package.json script (nub run <script>) — faster than npm run/pnpm run.
• Running a local CLI binary (nubx <cli>) — faster than npx <cli>, no Node wrapper.

It also has its own dependency installer (nub install) with a unified interface across npm/pnpm/bun lockfiles, and its own Node-version manager — this feature deliberately doesn’t use the latter. Node’s own version is already this container’s responsibility via the official node feature (dependsOn below); letting nub node install manage a second, independent version would create two competing version-selection mechanisms in the same container. Use nub for the speed, not for the version management.

Example Usage

{
  "features": {
    "ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/nub:1": {}
  }
}

Pin a specific release instead of the default latest:

{
  "features": {
    "ghcr.io/helpers4/devcontainer/nub:1": {
      "version": "1.2.3"
    }
  }
}

Options

Option	Type	Default	Description
version	string	latest	Version of nub to install, or a specific release like 1.2.3.
installGlobally	boolean	true	Symlink nub/nubx into /usr/local/bin so they’re available system-wide (all users, root, sudo) without relying on the target user’s own $PATH.

How it works

1. Runs the official installer as the container’s target non-root user (not root — the installer resolves its default install location from $HOME), with NUB_INSTALL_DIR=~/.nub and NUB_NO_MODIFY_PATH=1 so it never edits ~/.bashrc/~/.zshrc itself.
2. If installGlobally (default), symlinks every binary under ~/.nub/bin/ (nub and nubx, the latter dispatching on argv[0]) into /usr/local/bin.

No VS Code extension — nub doesn’t have one. This feature is CLI tooling only.

What this feature does not do

• Does not install the nub npm/pnpm shims (nub pm shim, which hardlinks ~/.nub/shims/{npm,npx,…} to transparently intercept package-manager calls). That’s a deeper, PATH-wide interception decision left to the consuming project to opt into explicitly — this feature only makes the nub/nubx binaries available.
• Does not manage Node versions. See “Why this feature exists” above.

Links

• nub: https://nubjs.com/
• Docs: https://nubjs.com/docs
• Source: https://github.com/nubjs/nub

Version History

• v1.0.0: Initial release.