coder-ddev: Spring 2026 improvement sprint

[rfay]

Tracking issue for the Spring 2026 coder-ddev improvement sprint, now that a Hetzner staging server is coming online.

Phase 1: Quick Wins (no staging required)

Small, safe, additive changes — image rebuild + template push to production.

• Add tmux to apt install #78 Add tmux to apt install
• Add default /usr/local/bin/php executable file #74 Add /usr/local/bin/php wrapper
• A few more suggestions for extensions to add to VSCode #42 Additional VSCode extensions
• Document shared access to coder.ddev.com workspaces #80 Document shared workspace access

Phase 2: Staging Server + Template Test Workflow (#77)

Two parallel tracks:

A. Template testing via --activate false on production — push a new template version without activating it, create a named test workspace from that version, validate, then promote. Add ACTIVATE ?= true variable to Makefile to make this easy.

B. Hetzner staging server — needed for image changes, storage path changes, auth config, and anything that carries risk to existing workspaces.

• Staging server is required #77 Set up Hetzner staging server + --activate false workflow in Makefile

Phase 3: Template / Logic Fixes

Use --activate false workflow or staging to validate before promoting.

• Drush works again with main branch, remove all the things #75 Drush works again on main branch (revert DrupalCon workarounds)
• Update to use new joachim-n/drupal-core-development-project #79 Update to joachim-n/drupal-core-development-project 2.0.2
• Creation of a workspace with the same name discovers previous content. #56 Use immutable workspace IDs for persistent storage paths

Phase 4: Auth Hardening

Test on staging first, then apply to production.

• User creation and authentication control #64 Restrict GitHub OAuth to ddev org (CODER_OAUTH2_GITHUB_ALLOWED_ORGS=ddev)
• Offer additional login options beyond GitHub OAuth #54 Add alternative login options (username/password at minimum; evaluate GitLab OIDC for Drupal community)

Phase 5: Automated Tests

The enabler for safe future iteration. Needs staging server as E2E target.

• Add automated tests #71 Add automated tests — terraform validate/fmt on PRs + E2E workspace smoke test against staging

Phase 6: Refactor

Requires test coverage from Phase 5 so regressions are caught automatically.

• Refactor to put inline bash in templates into scripts #76 Extract inline bash startup scripts into files, shared lib.sh

Phase 7: New Features

Lowest urgency.

• Add Drupal contrib picker/launcher/scaffolding #59 Drupal contrib picker/scaffolding