What should I use to standardize dev environments?

The best choice depends on what kind of team and stack you have, but the most common ways to standardize dev environments are:

Good options

• Dev Containers (Docker + VS Code / Codespaces)
  Best if you want a reproducible, portable environment. Great for teams, onboarding, and avoiding “works on my machine” issues.

• Docker Compose
  Good when your app depends on services like Postgres, Redis, etc. Often paired with dev containers or used on its own.

• Nix / devenv
  Excellent for highly reproducible environments and polyglot teams, but has a steeper learning curve.

• asdf / mise
  Great for standardizing language/runtime versions across machines with lighter setup than containers.

• Vagrant
  Older option for full VM-based environments; usually heavier than necessary now.

My practical recommendation

• If you want the most broadly useful default: Dev Containers
• If you mainly need consistent language/tool versions: mise or asdf
• If you need full reproducibility across complex stacks: Nix/devenv

Rule of thumb

• Small team / simple stack: mise + Docker Compose
• Medium/large team / onboarding matters: Dev Containers
• Need strong reproducibility and configuration as code: Nix

If you tell me your stack (language, framework, OS mix, and whether you use VS Code), I can recommend the best fit more specifically.