# Does Discourse have custom plugin templates, and how do I write custom plugins? **URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse/378523 **Category:** Support **Created:** [August 14, 2025, 3:30am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse/378523 "2025-08-14T03:30:10Z") **Posts on this page:** 1 **Showing post:** 4
### Author: ![NateDhaliwal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/natedhaliwal/32/313494_2.png) [@NateDhaliwal](https://meta.discourse.org/u/NateDhaliwal) #### Post date: [August 14, 2025, 7:42am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse/378523/4 "2025-08-14T07:42:23Z")
Yes, as linked above: > [@Developing Discourse using a Dev Container](https://meta.discourse.org/t/developing-discourse-using-a-dev-container/336366?silent=true): > > [Dev Containers](https://containers.dev/) is an open standard for configuring a development environment inside a container. This almost entirely eliminates the need to install/configure Discourse-specific tools/dependencies on your local machine, and makes it very easy to keep up-to-date as Discourse evolves over time. Dev Containers can be used in a number of different IDEs, or directly using their reference CLI. This guide will describe the setup process for VSCode. Getting started [Download and install](https://code.visualstudio.com/) VSCode Ins… You can also run a dev env in Guthub Codespaces: > [@Developing Discourse on GitHub Codespaces](https://meta.discourse.org/t/-/336131?silent=true): > > [GitHub Codespaces](https://github.com/features/codespaces) is a very fast way to get started with Discourse development. Their free tier is good for 30 hours per month of a 4-core machine. Getting Started Navigate to [the github repository](https://github.com/discourse/discourse) Press the , (comma) key on your keyboard, to open GitHub codespaces Use ‘change options’ to customize the machine. Technically, the 2-core machine will work, but we recommend using at least 4-core for a better experience. Click “Create Codespace” Wait for the contai… --- _[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse/378523)._