Provide cloud-based developer environments

[blarghmatey]

User Story

• As a developer I want to be able to easily set up an environment for the application that I am working on
• As a code reviewer I want an easy way to execute the changes in a PR if I don't already have the application configured on my laptop

Description/Context

There are numerous cloud-based developer environments available. The most prominent ones that I am aware of are GitHub CodeSpaces and GitPod. There are a number of others, so don't treat these as the only options.

Note: 2023-11-15 Another utility that I recently found which may be worth considering is https://www.jetpack.io/devbox

Acceptance Criteria

• [ ] Requirements for a cloud-based developer environment are understood (add details to this issue)
• [ ] An RFC is written detailing the problem to be solved and how the cloud developer environment will address that problem
• [ ] A target application is configured to use the service
• [ ] A template is prepared to allow subsequent applications to be easily onboarded

Plan/Design

Requirements:

• Ability to allow developers to use their own tools (e.g. editors) of choice with the environment
• Ability to successfully set up and run our products (MITxOnline will be a test exemplar)
• Ability to offer pre-packaged already set up environments to users

Setting up two or three possible solutions will allow us to identify the ergonomics and usability of the different options. This will also give us insight into how well we are able to set up our applications in a cloud developer environment.

[feoh]

Spoke with Carey who suggested MITxOnline which has solid looking dev setup instructions in its README.

[blarghmatey]

https://github.com/daytonaio/daytona