Epic: unify ports view between web and desktop

[jeanp413]

Build a prototype of Ports view using webview in VS Code Browser which resembles Ports view from Remote SSH but provides our features.
As a result list difference between features.

[akosyakov]

We should be careful here. There are features where we should align, and there are important integration points like ports. VS Code ports view is very limited to want we have now and switching to it will block us innovate in this point. I think it makes sense for VS Code desktop since we rely there on Remote SSH for port forwarding. But in case of web it does not make sense. We should rather study our users and improve ports view for them, i.e. how to connect several workspaces in one network with services on localhost, how to represent it in ports view, how to resolve conflicts there and so on. Switching to another view and removing features will rather break experience.

[jeanp413]

Could you point out what features would be missing if we use the tunnel view?

[akosyakov]

Could you point out what features would be missing if we use the tunnel view?

It would be good if you take time to study it. The point is that we give up quite a lot of control by switching to upsteam server and mostly it is fine. But for bits which are important for our integrations like ports and tasks we should not do it. It would be good do otherwise and collect list of things which are missing and implement them in the supervisor.

[loujaybee]

Will remove this one from the inbox for now, but, it's something we should consider as part of:

• Epic: VS Code Desktop GA #7184

[stale]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[filiptronicek]

For some more context:
this is the ports view Gitpod contributes on the Browser version of VS Code:

this is the ports view that is bundled into VS Code:

[loujaybee]

As discussed with @jeanp413 and @mustard-mh is that we'll start by:

1. Unifying the existing browser view to be the same as the desktop view (focusing mainly on the ports view), the justification being that this is a simple starting point.

2. We'll tackle issues around SSH connections, and achieving parity with Remote - SSH before turning on the functionality also in VS Code Desktop, and remove the dependency on Remote SSH, to gain more freedom over the experience.

Let's scope this issue to part 1, and leave part 2 for another issue 🙏

[mustard-mh]

@loujaybee to look into what can we do further with this Epic

[loujaybee]

Complete + shipped 🚢 - If you have any issues or ideas, please let us know!

Announcements:

• https://www.gitpod.io/changelog#vs-code-ports-view-is-now-responsive
• https://www.gitpod.io/changelog#new-ports-view-in-vs-code