SmolVM VSCode

A VS Code extension to manage SmolVM microVM sandboxes from within the editor, driven by the smolvm CLI.

Features

• SmolVM activity-bar view listing your machines and their status. The list is populated from smolvm machine ls --json at startup and refreshed periodically (and after each action).
• Create, start, stop, and delete machines from the view title bar and inline actions — each shells out to the matching smolvm machine subcommand.
• Open Shell: drop into a running machine in a dedicated VS Code terminal.
• Run Command: execute a command in a machine and stream its output.

About the shell

Open Shell opens a normal VS Code terminal and runs the smolvm CLI:

smolvm machine exec --name <name> -it -- /bin/sh

The CLI's -it provides a real interactive PTY (so vim, top, etc. work). Configure the CLI binary with smolvm.cliPath (default smolvm) and the in-VM shell with smolvm.shell (default /bin/sh). The machine is started first if it isn't already running.

Requirements

The smolvm CLI must be installed and on your PATH (or pointed at via the smolvm.cliPath setting). The extension shells out to it for every action — listing, creating, starting, stopping, deleting, and exec/shell — so nothing works without it. See smolmachines.com for install instructions.

Configuration

Creating a machine walks you through its configuration (image, resources, and the folder to bind). Number/image fields are pre-filled with the defaults below — press Enter to accept, edit to override, or blank to fall back. For the mount you choose Workspace root, Choose folder… (a folder picker over the filesystem), or Don't mount; by default the workspace root is bind-mounted (read-write) at /workspace.

Each setting below maps to a smolvm machine create flag. Optional ones (null/empty) are omitted so the CLI applies its own defaults.

Setting	Default	Purpose
smolvm.cliPath	smolvm	smolvm CLI binary (list + Open Shell).
smolvm.refreshIntervalSeconds	60	Polling interval for machine ls (0 = off).
smolvm.shell	/bin/sh	In-VM shell launched by Open Shell.
smolvm.image	""	Default base OCI image for new machines (blank = bare Alpine).
smolvm.mountSource	""	Host folder to bind (blank = workspace root).
smolvm.workspaceMount	/workspace	In-VM path to bind the chosen folder.
smolvm.ports	[]	Host→guest port mappings.
smolvm.resources.cpus	2	vCPUs for new machines.
smolvm.resources.memoryMb	1024	Memory (MB) for new machines.
smolvm.resources.network	true	Outbound network access for new machines.
smolvm.resources.storageGb	unset (20)	Storage disk size (GB) for new machines.
smolvm.resources.overlayGb	unset (10)	Overlay disk size (GB) for new machines.

Project layout

Path	Purpose
src/extension.ts	Activation entry point; registers commands.
src/cli.ts	smolvm process execution (run + streaming exec).
src/machineManager.ts	Machine registry + create/start/stop/delete logic.
src/types.ts	Shared model/type definitions.
src/instanceProvider.ts	Tree data provider; delegates to the manager.
esbuild.js	Bundler configuration.
package.json	Extension manifest (views, commands, menus, config).