A while back I ditched Windows for Linux desktop (long time Linux user, just not desktop) because I've learned to hate Microsoft.

I have 2 Sengled WiFi bulbs that I thought were useless now that Sengled is dead (although the app seems to be able to login again now, I'll never trust it). But then I found Sengled Tools which, among other things, documents a very simple way to communicate with Sengled bulbs using JSON over UDP. The sample light custom component is only ~100 lines of Python and adding the UDP and JSON from Sengled Tools would be maybe 50-100 more. I took this as an invitation to improve my Python and rescue the bulbs so I started reading up on Home Assistant development.

I now have this overwhelming VS Code install with devcontainers etc. etc. which seems crazy overkill for the task at hand and I really resent AI being shoved in my face every time I try to do something - especially when the main purpose of the exercise is to learn.

I run Home Assistant in a VM and I worked out I can virsh console hass and then docker exec -it homeassistant sh. I think there's maybe a sshd addon I could use and there is also the File Editor addon.

I guess I've answered my own question, and maybe I just wanted to have a rant about being "forced" back into the Microsoft ecosystem in order to develop for Home Assistant - but I would be interested to learn about other options.

Edit to add my solution for anyone that might come across this post in the future:

As usual, I rushed in without reading the documentation properly. I just started reading from the top and following the VS Code instructions. If I had scrolled down the page a bit I would have found the "Manual Environment" section. There are no instructions for my specific distribution, but it was clear enough that it could easily be adapted. I now have a copy of Home Assistant that I can simply run in a terminal and kill and restart etc. without impacting my "production environment". I've already installed vscodium, so will probably keep using it, but if I read the instructions properly I would probably just use vi.