If you've ever spent half a day setting up a new Ubuntu machine just to start writing cloud infrastructure code, you already understand the problem Kodra solves. And if you've been there, you know the pain: installing Azure CLI, then azd, then Docker, then VS Code, then hunting for the right fonts, tweaking your terminal prompt, configuring Git aliases... it's a tax on your time that adds up fast.
Kodra is a one-command developer environment bootstrapper built by Code To Cloud that gets you from a bare Ubuntu 24.04 install to a fully configured, production-ready Azure development environment in under five minutes.
One Command. Everything.
The entire install is a single line:
wget -qO- https://kodra.codetocloud.io/boot.sh | bashThat's it. When it's done, you have:
- Azure CLI + azd — ready to authenticate and deploy
- Docker CE — configured and running, no fuss
- VS Code — installed with the Tokyo Night theme applied
- GitHub CLI + GitHub Copilot CLI — because AI assistance at the terminal is now just part of the job
- Ghostty terminal with a Starship prompt, Nerd Fonts, and fastfetch for that satisfying system info splash
- A fully themed GNOME desktop — blur effects, Dash to Dock, custom wallpapers, the works
The Kodra team clocked it at around 12 minutes and 32 seconds on a fresh machine. That's faster than most developers can find their bookmarks folder.
It's Not Just an Installer — It's a Toolchain
What makes Kodra more than a glorified shell script is the opinionated toolset it assembles. This isn't a grab-bag of utilities; it's a carefully curated stack built around cloud-native development workflows:
- Infrastructure & Cloud: Azure CLI, azd, Bicep, Terraform, PowerShell 7
- Containers & Kubernetes: Docker CE, kubectl, Helm, k9s, lazydocker
- Developer Productivity: bat (better cat), eza (better ls), fzf, ripgrep, btop, lazygit
- AI-Native: GitHub Copilot CLI — type
??in your terminal and ask it anything
Over 50 shell aliases come pre-configured. gs, ga, gc, gp for your Git workflow. tf, tfi, tfp, tfa for Terraform. azd-up to ship. These aren't things you have to remember to set up — they're just there.
The kodra CLI
After install, a kodra command becomes your environment's control panel:
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
kodra doctor | Check your system health |
kodra doctor --fix | Auto-repair common issues |
kodra update | Update everything at once |
kodra theme | Switch between Tokyo Night and Ghostty Blue |
kodra wallpaper | Browse and set wallpapers |
kodra fetch | Display a system info summary |
kodra doctor alone is worth the install. Environment drift is real — tools go stale, configs break, paths stop resolving. Having a single command that checks everything and optionally fixes it is a genuinely useful safety net.
Two Themes, Both Good
Kodra ships with two cohesive visual themes that span your terminal, editor, and desktop:
- Tokyo Night — the classic purple-blue palette that's taken over developer setups everywhere. Soft and easy on the eyes for long sessions.
- Ghostty Blue — a deep navy base with electric cyan accents. High contrast and sharp.
Neither is an afterthought. Both themes are applied consistently across VS Code, Ghostty, and the GNOME desktop. It sounds cosmetic, but a coherent visual environment genuinely reduces cognitive friction over the course of a workday.
Windows Developer? Kodra WSL Has You Covered
Not everyone is running native Ubuntu. A huge portion of professional developers are on Windows machines — sometimes by preference, sometimes by policy. For them, there's Kodra WSL.
Kodra WSL brings the same cloud-native toolchain to Windows Subsystem for Linux 2, running inside Windows Terminal with Ubuntu 24.04. After a few prerequisite steps (installing Windows Terminal, WSL2, a Nerd Font, and VS Code — all handled via winget), the installer drops to a single command in your Ubuntu terminal:
wget -qO- https://kodra.wsl.codetocloud.io/boot.sh | bashDone in around 3 minutes 45 seconds.
The WSL Story Is Compelling
Kodra WSL makes a particularly strong case around Docker CE. Docker Desktop requires a paid license for organizations with over 250 employees or $10M+ revenue. Kodra WSL configures Docker CE to run natively inside WSL2 — no Docker Desktop, no licensing concerns, no overhead from a separate application consuming your RAM.
You also get VS Code integration out of the box. Edit files in Windows, run everything in Linux, use Dev Containers seamlessly. It matches the GitHub Actions environment you're deploying to, which means far fewer "works on my machine" moments.
Who Is This For?
Kodra is an excellent fit for:
- New team members who need to be productive on day one without a week of environment setup
- Cloud engineers who work across multiple machines (personal, work, cloud VMs) and want consistency
- Windows developers who want a proper Linux development environment without fighting WSL configuration
- Azure shops where the entire team should be running the same tool versions and configurations
- Instructors and workshop facilitators who need attendees to have a consistent, working environment fast
It's MIT licensed, actively maintained (v0.4.1 for desktop, v0.6.0 for WSL as of this writing), and the team is reachable on Discord.
Try It
If you're on Ubuntu 24.04, the barrier to entry is literally one command:
wget -qO- https://kodra.codetocloud.io/boot.sh | bashIf you're on Windows with WSL2, head to kodra.wsl.codetocloud.io and follow the four prerequisite steps before running the equivalent command.
The GitHub repos are at codetocloudorg/kodra and codetocloudorg/kodra-wsl if you want to dig into what's happening under the hood, contribute, or report an issue.
Developer environment setup shouldn't be an obstacle to building things. Kodra is a well-considered attempt to make it stop being one.