Run Manager

A unified VS Code panel to launch, monitor, and stop all of your local services — a faster, friendlier take on the IntelliJ IDEA Services panel.

Run Manager gives you one side panel for every process your project needs — shell commands, launch.json configurations, tasks, and Docker Compose services — with dependency-aware startup, health checks, and a live log terminal.

Features

• One panel for everything — shell commands, launch.json configs (run or debug), tasks.json and auto-detected tasks (npm, gulp, …), and individual Docker Compose services.
• Active dashboard — build your own working set: pick the services you care about, create custom groups, and drag services between them. The layout is yours, independent of how services are defined.
• Dependency-aware start — declare dependsOn and Run Manager starts a whole group in the correct topological order with one click.
• Health checks — know when a service is actually ready, not just "process alive", via an HTTP ping or a log pattern.
• Embedded log terminal — full ANSI colour, per service, powered by xterm.js.
• Run / Debug toggle — launch configurations can start with the debugger attached, per service.
• Import from JetBrains — migrate existing JetBrains run/debug configurations into Run Manager with one command, or accept the prompt shown when you open a JetBrains project.

Getting started

1. Install the extension.
2. Open the Run Manager view from the Activity Bar.
3. The All tab lists every service it discovers. Tick the ones you use to add them to the Active tab.
4. In Active, create groups and drag services to arrange your dashboard.
5. Use the per-service controls to Start / Stop / Restart, or Start All on a group.

Importing from JetBrains

Moving a project from a JetBrains IDE? Run Manager can migrate your existing run/debug configurations instead of making you recreate them.

• When you open a workspace that contains a .idea/ directory with run configurations, Run Manager offers to import them. You can also run Run Manager: Import from JetBrains from the Command Palette at any time.
• A preview lists every discovered configuration; deselect anything you don't want. Entries marked needs review were imported best-effort — verify them.
• Imported configurations are written into .vscode/services.json under a JetBrains group. launch.json is never modified, and existing services.json content and comments are preserved.
• Re-running the import is safe: matched services are updated in place, new ones are added, and a configuration removed in JetBrains is flagged stale rather than deleted.

Configuration

Run Manager discovers services from three sources. The first two need no setup:

• .vscode/launch.json — every launch configuration is listed automatically.
• VS Code tasks — .vscode/tasks.json plus auto-detected tasks (npm scripts, gulp, …), grouped by source.
• .vscode/services.json — optional. Add shell commands, Docker Compose services, dependsOn, health checks, and per-service env files.

.vscode/services.json

{
  "groups": [
    {
      "name": "Infrastructure",
      "services": [
        {
          "id": "mongodb",
          "name": "MongoDB",
          "type": "docker-compose",
          "file": "${workspaceFolder}/docker-compose.yml",
          "service": "mongodb",
          "healthCheck": {
            "type": "log-pattern",
            "pattern": "Waiting for connections",
            "timeout": 30
          }
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "Application",
      "services": [
        {
          "id": "api",
          "name": "API Server",
          "type": "shell",
          "cmd": "node server.js",
          "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
          "envFile": ".env.local",
          "dependsOn": ["mongodb"],
          "healthCheck": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "http://localhost:3000/health",
            "readyWhen": 200,
            "timeout": 30
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Service types

Development

npm install
npm run build      # bundle extension + webview with esbuild
npm test           # Jest unit tests

Press F5 in VS Code to launch an Extension Development Host.

License

Apache-2.0