shai-mega

Comprehensive development environment with multiple language runtimes, tools, and pre-installed AI CLIs.

Overview

shai-mega is a kitchen-sink image designed to get you started quickly with Shai. It includes everything you need for polyglot development with AI agents.

Registry: ghcr.io/colony-2/shai-mega:latest

Base: ghcr.io/colony-2/shai-base:latest (Debian bookworm-slim)

Size: ~2 GB

Default: This is Shai’s default image when no config is specified

What’s Included

Languages & Runtimes

• Go - Latest stable (1.21+)
• Rust - Stable toolchain with cargo
• Node.js - Latest LTS with npm, yarn, pnpm
• Python - Python 3.11+ with pip
• Java - OpenJDK (default-jdk)
• C/C++ - GCC and Clang compilers

Package Managers

• npm - Node.js package manager
• yarn - Alternative Node.js package manager
• pnpm - Fast, disk-efficient Node.js package manager
• pip - Python package installer
• cargo - Rust package manager

AI CLI Tools

• Claude Code - Anthropic’s official CLI
• Codex - OpenAI’s coding agent (if available)
• Gemini CLI - Google’s AI CLI
• Moonrepo - Repository management tool

Browser Automation

• Playwright - Browser testing framework
• Chromium - Headless browser

Development Tools

• git - Version control
• jq - JSON processor
• curl - HTTP client
• wget - File downloader
• bash-completion - Shell completions
• vim - Text editor
• nano - Simple text editor
• htop - Process viewer
• tree - Directory tree viewer
• rsync - File synchronization
• ssh - Secure shell client

Build Tools

• build-essential - Essential build tools (make, gcc, etc.)
• pkg-config - Library configuration helper
• cmake - Cross-platform build system

System Tools

All tools from shai-base plus:

• zsh - Advanced shell
• tmux - Terminal multiplexer
• supervisor - Process manager
• iptables - Firewall
• tinyproxy - HTTP proxy
• dnsmasq - DNS server

Use Cases

1. Quick Start

Get started with Shai immediately without building custom images:

1npm install -g @colony2/shai
2shai -rw src -- claude-code

2. Polyglot Development

Work on projects using multiple languages:

1# Monorepo with Go backend + Node.js frontend
2shai -rw services/api -rw packages/web-app

3. AI Agent Development

Pre-installed AI tools mean agents can run immediately:

1# Claude Code is already installed
2shai -rw . -- claude-code
3
4# Or Gemini CLI
5shai -rw . -- gemini-cli

4. Full-Stack Development

Everything you need for modern web development:

1# React frontend + Node.js backend + Python ML
2shai -rw frontend -rw backend -rw ml

Configuration Example

 1# .shai/config.yaml
 2type: shai-sandbox
 3version: 1
 4
 5# shai-mega is the default, but can be explicit
 6image: ghcr.io/colony-2/shai-mega
 7
 8resources:
 9  base-allowlist:
10    http:
11      - github.com
12      - npmjs.org
13      - pypi.org
14      - crates.io
15
16apply:
17  - path: ./
18    resources: [base-allowlist]

Pre-Installed Tools Locations

All language toolchains are installed system-wide:

 1# Go
 2/usr/local/go/bin/go
 3
 4# Rust
 5/usr/local/cargo/bin/cargo
 6/usr/local/cargo/bin/rustc
 7
 8# Node.js
 9/usr/bin/node
10/usr/bin/npm
11
12# Python
13/usr/bin/python3
14/usr/bin/pip3
15
16# AI Tools
17/usr/local/bin/claude-code
18/usr/local/bin/gemini-cli

PATH is pre-configured for all users.

Version Information

Check installed versions:

1shai -- bash -c "
2  echo Go: \$(go version)
3  echo Rust: \$(rustc --version)
4  echo Node: \$(node --version)
5  echo Python: \$(python3 --version)
6"

Performance Considerations

Startup Time

• Cold start (first pull): 2-5 minutes (large download)
• Warm start (cached): ~2 seconds

1docker pull ghcr.io/colony-2/shai-mega:latest

Resource Usage

• Disk: ~2 GB
• Memory: 100-200 MB (sandboxing) + your application
• CPU: Minimal overhead

Optimization Tips

1. Use cache mounts to avoid re-downloading packages:

   1resources:
   2  caches:
   3    mounts:
   4      - source: ${{ env.HOME }}/.npm
   5        target: /home/shai/.npm
   6        mode: rw
   7      - source: ${{ env.HOME }}/.cargo
   8        target: /home/shai/.cargo
   9        mode: rw

2. Pre-install dependencies in your project’s setup scripts

3. Use shai-base for CI/CD where you don’t need all tools

When to Use shai-mega

✅ Use shai-mega if:

• You’re just getting started with Shai
• You work on multiple projects with different languages
• You want AI tools pre-installed
• You don’t want to manage custom images
• Disk space isn’t a concern
• You value convenience over image size

❌ Don’t use shai-mega if:

• You need a minimal image (use shai-base)
• You’re running in resource-constrained CI/CD
• You have specific version requirements (build custom)
• You need specialized tools not included
• You need GPU support (build custom from shai-base)
• Image size is critical

Updating

Pull Latest Version

1docker pull ghcr.io/colony-2/shai-mega:latest

Check for Updates

1# See current image ID
2docker images ghcr.io/colony-2/shai-mega
3
4# Pull and compare
5docker pull ghcr.io/colony-2/shai-mega:latest

Versioning

Available tags:

• latest - Latest stable release (recommended)
• v1.0.0 - Specific version (for reproducibility)
• main - Latest build from main branch (unstable)

Recommendation: Use latest for development, pin versions in CI/CD:

1# Development
2image: ghcr.io/colony-2/shai-mega
3
4# CI/CD
5image: ghcr.io/colony-2/shai-mega:v1.0.0

Customizing shai-mega

You can extend shai-mega if you need additional tools:

 1FROM ghcr.io/colony-2/shai-mega:latest
 2
 3# Add additional tools
 4RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
 5    postgresql-client \
 6    redis-tools \
 7    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 8
 9# Install additional npm packages globally
10RUN npm install -g \
11    typescript \
12    @nestjs/cli
13
14WORKDIR /src

Troubleshooting

Image Pull Timeout

Problem: Pulling shai-mega times out

Solution: The image is large (~2 GB). Ensure stable network:

1# Increase Docker pull timeout
2DOCKER_CLI_TIMEOUT=600 docker pull ghcr.io/colony-2/shai-mega:latest

Tool Version Conflicts

Problem: Need a specific version not in shai-mega

Solution: Build a custom image based on shai-base

Missing Tool

Problem: Tool you need isn’t included

Solution: Either extend shai-mega or build from shai-base:

1FROM ghcr.io/colony-2/shai-mega:latest
2RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y your-tool

Comparison with shai-base

Next Steps

• Compare with shai-base for minimal images
• Learn to build Custom Images for specialized needs
• See Examples for real-world usage