Your AI-powered co-pilot for building and deploying applications.
The Alis Build Platform extension for Visual Studio Code provides a seamless, integrated experience for developers using Alis. From defining your application's resources to building, deploying, and managing reusable components, this extension brings the full power of the Alis platform directly into your editor.
Key Features
- Workspace Management: Easily switch between your Solutions and Products. The extension automatically configures your workspace with the correct repositories and settings.
- Define, Build, Deploy (DBD) Workflow: A guided, end-to-end workflow to take your ideas from definition to production.
- Code Block Management: Discover, install, upgrade, and publish reusable Code Blocks directly from the VS Code interface.
- Integrated Source Control: A dedicated Source Control view to manage feature branches created by Code Block installations and upgrades, allowing you to review and merge changes with confidence.
- Environment Management: Switch between development, staging, and production environments. The extension handles updating environment variables and service account keys.
- Real-time Notifications: Stay informed about the status of your builds, deployments, and other platform activities through the integrated notifications view.
- Nix Environment Integration: Optional, integrated support for Nix to provide consistent, reproducible development environments.
- Seamless Authentication: Securely sign in to the Alis platform using your existing credentials. The extension manages your session, including automatic token refreshes.
Getting Started
- Installation: Install the "Alis Build Platform" extension from the VS Code Marketplace.
- Sign In: Open the command palette (
Ctrl+Shift+P or Cmd+Shift+P) and run the Alis: Sign In command. This will open a browser window to authenticate.
- Select a Workspace: Once signed in, run the
Alis: Select Solution or Alis: Select Product command to choose the workspace you want to work on. The extension will automatically clone the required repositories and configure your workspace.
Core Workflows
The Define, Build, Deploy (DBD) Cycle
The heart of the Alis platform is the DBD cycle, fully supported within the extension.
- Define: Modify your service definitions (
.proto files) in the define repository.
- Build: Trigger a local or cloud build directly from the Workspace view. The extension will guide you through selecting a commit and any necessary Dockerfiles.
- Deploy: After a successful build, deploy your services to one or more environments. You can choose to run a "plan" to see the infrastructure changes before applying them.
Managing Code Blocks
Code Blocks are reusable components that can be installed into your Neurons to add functionality.
- Discover: Browse available Code Blocks in the "Code Blocks" view.
- Install: Install a Code Block into a selected package (Neuron). The extension will create a dedicated feature branch with the new code.
- Upgrade: If a new version of an installed Code Block is available, you can upgrade it with a single click.
- Merge: Use the "Source Control" view to review the changes introduced by a Code Block installation or upgrade and merge them into your main branch.
User Interface Overview
- Workspace View (Alis Icon in Activity Bar): This is your main control center. It shows a tree view of your selected Product/Solution, including its Neurons, Deployments, and installed Code Blocks. You can trigger DBD actions directly from this view.
- Code Blocks View (Alis Icon in Activity Bar): Discover and manage publicly available and private Code Blocks.
- Source Control View (Standard VS Code SCM Icon): A dedicated view for "Alis Code Blocks" shows all unmerged branches created by the extension. Review file diffs, and merge or checkout branches from here.
- Status Bar:
- Environment Status: See the currently selected deployment environment and click to switch.
- Nix Status: Shows whether the integrated Nix environment is active. Click to activate it.
Feedback and Support
For bugs, feature requests, or support, please use the integrated issue reporting tools or contact the Alis Build Platform team.
© 2025 Alis Exchange. All rights reserved.
| |
