Cloud and Hybrid Developer Environments How virtualization transforms your IDEs for embedded projects Oleg Nenashev, PhD Independent Consultant QA&Test 2025 Bilbao 

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Disclaimer ● I am at this conference as independent, #OpenToWork ● Opinions are my own ● I am not talking about any my past or current companies speakerdeck.com/onenashev 

> whoami @oleg_nenashev oleg-nenashev Dr. Nenashev / Mr. Jenkins Community Builder, Dev Tools DevRel & DevOps Consultant #RussiansAgainstPutin #StandWithUkraine 

@oleg_nenashev oleg-nenashev > whoami --automotive --embedded --hardware 5 CloudBees Embedded & Automotive Day in Stuttgart LibreCores CI 

IEEE Spectrum Research among members 6 https://spectrum.ieee.org/top-progra mming-languages-2021 Today 

Today 7 Most of demos are for the Testcontainers for C/C++ project - https://github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-native Not an embedded project, but created for Embedded/Automotive projects 

Embedded Developers Can Have Nice Things 8 

My Previous Presentations 9 ● Developer Tools & Containers ● Jenkins, Docker, WireMock, Testcontainers 

Today ● Hybrid and Remote Developer Environments ● Dev Containers ● Cloud Developer Environments (CDEs) ● Brief: DIY CDEs Demos - coffee breaks 10 

Is your laptop enough to work on the main project? 11 

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Your DevEnv is already elsewhere 13 

What does engineer use daily? ● CI Systems ● Issue Trackers ● Chats ● Zoom / Google Meet / … ● Email ● Calendar ● … 14 

CloudBees Office, Neuchatel, ~2015 

Local Development 16 In Containers 

Why containers? ● Configuration Management as Code ● Reusability ● Fast provisioning ● Clean environments ● Disposability ● Clustering 

My Previous Presentations 18 ● Developer Tools & Containers ● Jenkins, Docker, WireMock, Testcontainers 

Docker in Embedded Prototypes, Dev Tools Test Infrastructures, CI/CD Docker Swarm Cluster on Raspberry Pi 

20 WireMock for Google Test / C++ github.com/testcontainers/te stcontainers-c/tree/main/de mo/google-test 

Containerized IDEs 21 https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/ devcontainers/containers 

Local Dev Environments in containers, too 22 Local Container Engine or Cloud 

23 + IDE Integrations https://containers.dev/ 

Dev Containers 101 24 https://hub.docker.com/r/microsoft/devcontainers-cpp 

Dev Containers 101 .devcontainer/ devcontainer.json - Configuration JSON Docker image, container parameters, IDE plugins containers.dev/ implementors/spec/ 25 

Quick Start 1. Clone https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-remote-try-cpp 2. Open the project in VSCode 3. Install the Dev Containers extension 4. Reopen the project in a container 26 

27 Sample: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-remote-try-cpp 

28 Sample: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-remote-try-cpp 1 4 3 5 1. Environment runs in a container 2. The workspace is mapped 3. Tools are accessible 4. IDE plugins, including Git, Intellisense & Co 5. AI Agent works, too 

Dev Containers are not just simple containers 29 

Dev Containers 1. Stock images 2. Single container From image registry or Dockerfile 30 containers.dev/guide/dockerfile 

Dev Containers 1. Stock images 2. Single container 3. Multi-container systems 31 containers.dev/guide/dockerfile#docker-compose 

Dev Containers for your dev environments Supported in: ● Visual Studio Code (link) ● Visual Studio (link) ● IntelliJ Platform IDEs (link) ● Cloud IDEs and Services ● CI/CD Systems 32 https://containers.dev/ Your developer tools and environments, packaged as containers. With proper developer experience 

Add-ons ● Templates 33 https://containers.dev/templates 

C++ Template https://github. com/devcont ainers/templa tes/tree/main/ src/cpp 34 

Add-ons ● Templates ● Features 35 https://containers.dev/features 

Dev Containers 36 https://containers.dev/features 

Add-ons ● Templates ● Features ● IDE Plugins 37 

38 Example - CMake in a Dev Container https://github.com/testcontainers/ testcontainers-native 

39 Example - GoogleTest in a Dev Container https://github.com/testcontainers/ testcontainers-native 

Dev Containers Reuse 40 Source: https://containers.dev/overview#De velopment-vs-production 

Reuse Dev Containers can be shared as a part of your project Dev Containers can be reused in CI/CD pipelines 41 https://github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-native/blob/main/.github/workflows/ci.yml 

FPGAs and Simulators 42 

Testing with hardware VM, container or bare-metal Power Reset when it hangs Deploy bit-files, Blasting cables Debugging cables, firmware upload We don’t change them, huh? Your Developer Machine Drivers Tools Peripherals Attached peripherals Runtime 

Docker & FPGA - HOWTO 44 ● USB/Ethernet Ports can be exposed to a container ● Docker image can include tools and drivers ● https://github.com/halfmanhalftaco/fpga-docker ● https://www.starwaredesign.com/index.php/blog/ 64-fpga-meets-devops-xilinx-vivado-and-jenkins-with-docker 

Hardware tests with containers? ● It works ● You can run containers in privileged mode ● You can use drivers from host OS ● It works on a success path ● BUT: software errors, timeouts, access conflicts, device hanging when switching containers ● BUT: you still need special test equipment and drivers Expectations Reality There are limitations, but doable 

Containers for Simulations ● We avoid using Hardware when possible ● Low overhead and startup time ● Resource quota management ○ CPU/RAM ○ Prioritization for users ○ Licenses ● Multi-instance tests (Docker Compose, Kubernetes Pods, etc.) 46 

QEMU ● Multi-platform execution on a single machine ● Container adapters are available 47 https://github.com/qemus 

Dev Container for Simulations 48 ● Most Simulators already have Docker images ● Docker images can be quickly converted to Dev Containers 

Example - Verilator 49 

And AI? 50 

LLM Runtimes 

LLM Runtimes Backends https://github.com/ggml-org/llama.cpp# supported-backends 

Example - Ollama as a DevContainer Feature 53 https://github.com/prulloac/devcontainer-features/tree/main/src/ollama 

Local Development 54 is closer to the cloud, now 

CloudBees Office, Neuchatel, ~2015 IDEs 

We were doing CDEs before they were a mainstream 56 Image source: https://www.combell.com/en/blog/w hat-is-rdp-remote-desktop-protocol/ 

Cloud Developer Environments ● Most of the functionality runs in the cloud ● Local Tools / IDEs are just wrappers ● SaaS, public cloud or self-hosted ● Resources and licenses can be shared 57 

58 Embedded Projects DYI CDE suitable for your projects 

Existing CDEs ● GitHub Codespaces ● Eclipse Che / Theia ● Ona (fka Gitpod) ● AWS Cloud9 ● Strong Network (Citrix) ● Coder ● Cloudomation ● … ● Web based AI IDEs 59 Source: https://discord.com/blog/how-discord-moved-engin eering-to-cloud-development-environments 

Example - GitHub Codespaces 60 

Example - GitHub Codespaces 61 

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Developer Experience 63 May require a custom CDE 

Existing CDEs, but for Embedded Projects 64 ● IDE Extensions ● Dev Container(s) for… ○ Build Tools ○ Simulators ○ Verification tools ● Testcontainers 

65 Embedded Projects DYI CDE suitable for your projects 

DIY CDE Cluster 66 Source: https://medium.com/@elliotgraebert/laptop-development-is-dead -why-remote-development-is-the-future-f92ce103fd13 Your Cloud FPGA as a service 

DYI CDEs ● You can build a CDE on your own ● IDEs with CDE plugins ● Control planes ● Workspaces & Cloud ● Storage / Data (!) Security aspect is an area for commercial CDEs 67 Source: https://coder.com/ 

DYI CDEs ● Dev Containers and compatible IDEs ● Container Engines (e.g. Docker) and Kubernetes for the environment ● Device Plugins for FPGA (e.g. one for Xilinx) ● KubeVirt for virtual machines 68 

llm-d for Kubernetes-native and distributed LLM inference 69 https://developers.redhat.com/articles/2025/05/2 0/llm-d-kubernetes-native-distributed-inferencing 

Example - Xilinx Tools FPGA grids can be served and used in Kubernetes CDEs can be provisioned accordingly https://github.com/Xilinx/FP GA_as_a_Service 70 

THE END? 

Demos 72 ● Quickstart: ○ https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-remote-try-cpp ● My Example - Testcontainers for C/C++ ○ github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-c ○ Testcontainers can run in Dev Containers ○ You can use GitHub Codespaces too 

Takeaways 1. Consider using Dev Containers 2. There are tools and frameworks for embedded projects, but a lot of DYI 3. For common software stacks, the existing IDEs are at your service 4. CDEs may mean local, too 

One First Step FOR YOU After the talk: 1. Run demos locally or in Codespaces 2. Create a Dev Container for your project 3. Share it with your team(s) 74 

Contacts: E-mail: [email protected] GitHub: oleg-nenashev Twitter: @oleg_nenashev QUESTIONS? 75 #OpenToWork 

Abstract 76 Back in 2017 at QA&Test Bilbao, I explored how Docker and Jenkins pipelines could transform CI/CD for embedded projects. Fast forward to 2023, containerization has become the norm in embedded software QA. My recent talk focused on tools like Testcontainers and WireMock, now widely used for testing not just backend services but entire embedded systems—from SCADA to IoT—within virtualized environments powered by Kubernetes. These technologies now form the backbone of modern testing infrastructure in software, and now expand to edge and embedded systems to cover full-system virtualization and integration testing. Same happens on the developer machines. Embedded QA Engineers are entering a new era of development enabled by Cloud Development Environments (CDEs) like GitHub Codespaces or Devcontainers, where fully configured workspaces can run on laptops, Kubernetes clusters or public clouds. Containers and VMs, often managed with tools like KubeVirt and QEMU, and wrapped by frameworks like Testcontainers, enable scalable, hardware-aware test setups that support HIL testing, firmware validation, and system modeling. It might sound like a miracle, but it’s actually possible with modern tech stacks! This talk demonstrates how to build such “hybrid developer environments” entirely with open source tools, combining C++/SystemVerilog development, embedded hardware access, and even AI-driven test automation – showing that the modern IDE for embedded QA is now distributed, intelligent, and platform-agnostic. Stay a while and listen, I have a PoC ready!