Important

If you are using v0.6.0 or below, the auto-update feature is not implemented.
Please manually install the latest version.

If you are using v0.1.0–v0.8.0, the app may freeze on startup when no workspace is open due to the protocol handler and file watcher initialization blocking the main thread.
Please manually install the latest version (fixed in #384).

VS Codeee

English | 日本語

A project to run VSCode with Tauri 2.0

Motivation

While VSCode is an excellent editor, its Electron-based architecture leads to high memory usage. As a Neovim user (neovim-vscode), I was also frustrated that tmux-like operability couldn't be replicated.
Although it's open source, the sheer scale of the project had kept me from attempting anything — but with today's LLMs being smarter than humans at vibe-coding, I figured these pain points could finally be solved, and so VSCodeee was born.
This is developed as a side project, so feature implementations and bug fixes may be slow — your understanding is appreciated.
Bug reports and feature requests are always welcome, so feel free to submit issues.

Purpose

Maintain the current functionality of VSCode while achieving the following:

• Reduce memory usage: Electron → Tauri 2.0 (native WebView instead of bundled Chromium)
• Reduce unnecessary metrics: Stop sending telemetry to Microsoft
• Smaller binary size: No bundled Chromium (system WebView is used instead). Node.js is still bundled for extension host support
• Transparent background (experimental): Native window transparency support (macOS/Linux) — see the desktop through your editor
  • Future releases will explore more advanced appearance options such as full window transparency and blur effects
  • 
• Settings and keybindings for Vimmers
• Regularly merge upstream VSCode to maintain the latest features and security patches

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Installation

Platform	Installer
macOS (Apple Silicon)	.dmg
macOS (Intel)	.dmg
Linux	.AppImage / .deb
Windows	.exe

Note

macOS builds use ad-hoc code signing (not Apple-notarized). On first launch, go to System Settings > Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. Alternatively, run:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/VS Codeee.app"

Note

This project is developed and tested primarily on macOS. Windows and Linux builds are provided but have not been verified on those platforms. If you encounter any issues, please open an issue.

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Architecture

Note: Shared Process (upstream VS Code's hidden renderer for gallery, sync, telemetry) is eliminated in VSCodeee. Its services are implemented directly in the WebView or Rust backend — see #88.

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VSCodeee Original Features

• tmux-like pane control keybindings
  • Pane resize commands
    • vscodeee.workbench.editor.resizePaneRight
    • vscodeee.workbench.editor.resizePaneLeft
    • vscodeee.workbench.editor.resizePaneUp
    • vscodeee.workbench.editor.resizePaneDown
• Display index prefix on editor groups (for tmux prefix + n)
  • "vscodeee.workbench.editor.editorGroupIndexInTab": true
• Suppress auto-maximize when focusing the smallest pane
  • "vscodeee.workbench.editor.autoMaximizeOnFocus": false
  • Upstream VSCode issue#85309

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MVP Excluded Features

The following features depend on Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP), which has no public API in Tauri's native WebViews (WKWebView / WebView2 / WebKitGTK). They are excluded from the MVP scope.

Feature	Reason
AI Browser Tools (Copilot web automation)	CDP-dependent (click/drag/type/screenshot)
vscode.BrowserTab API (proposed)	CDP-dependent, zero marketplace adoption
Playwright integration	CDP-dependent browser automation
Element inspection (getElementData)	CDP-dependent DOM inspection
Console log capture	CDP-dependent programmatic console access

The following Native Host Service features are deferred to post-MVP:

Feature	Reason
Microsoft Account login	The built-in microsoft-authentication extension is bundled with @azure/msal-node and may work, but has not been verified in the Tauri environment.
Client credentials auth	MVP supports authorization code flow only. Client credentials flow (client_id + client_secret) is deferred to post-MVP.
System proxy resolution	Requires platform-specific APIs (CFNetwork, WinHTTP, libproxy). The resolve_proxy command returns None (direct connection).
System certificate loading	The load_certificates command returns an empty list. Extensions handle their own cert loading.
Kerberos authentication	lookupKerberosAuthorization returns undefined. Requires a Kerberos library — rarely needed outside enterprise AD environments.
Window splash persistence	saveWindowSplash is a no-op. Splash data is persisted via localStorage through ISplashStorageService instead.
macOS Touch Bar	Not supported by Tauri's WebView. The Touch Bar API methods are no-ops.
macOS tab management	Window tab APIs (newWindowTab, mergeAllWindowTabs, etc.) are no-ops.
GPU info / content tracing	openGPUInfoWindow, openContentTracingWindow, startTracing, stopTracing are no-ops.
Screenshot capture	getScreenshot returns undefined. Requires platform-specific screen capture APIs.

Tip

These features may be revisited if Tauri adds CDP support in the future, or if alternative approaches become viable.

Known Limitations

Architectural differences between Electron (bundled Chromium) and Tauri (native system WebView) introduce permanent or platform-specific limitations.

Feature	Limitation	Platform Details
setBackgroundThrottling	WebView internal JS timer/animation throttling cannot be controlled externally	All platforms — NSProcessInfo.beginActivity() (macOS) can prevent OS-level throttling, but WebView-internal behavior remains uncontrollable.
Settings Sync	Built-in Settings Sync is unavailable. The upstream sync service is licensed exclusively for official VS Code builds.	All platforms — use third-party extensions (e.g., Settings Sync) that sync via GitHub Gist as an alternative.
Remote Tunnels	Built-in Remote Tunnels is unavailable. The tunnel relay infrastructure is hosted by Microsoft (Azure Dev Tunnels) and is not accessible from third-party builds. Use Remote-SSH for remote development instead.	All platforms — see #100 for details. Remote-SSH is available as an alternative (#185).

Note

This list covers inherent platform limitations. Features that are simply not yet implemented are tracked in individual GitHub Issues.

License

MIT License — see LICENSE for details.