CALM Visual Studio Code Extension

Status: Active - From v0.1.0 (December 2025) the extension has been moved out of experimental status, as it has become a worthy part of the CALM tooling ecosystem. It will continue to be in active development, meaning that APIs, behavior, and visuals will evolve.

Live-visualize CALM architecture models while you edit them. Features an interactive preview, tree navigation, intelligent validation, and documentation generation.

Features

🎯 Interactive Preview Panel

Live Architecture Visualization: Real-time diagram generation as you edit
Smart Layout: Automatic positioning with multiple layout options
Interactive Elements: Click to inspect, navigate between components

Structured Overview: Browse Nodes, Relationships, and Flows
Quick Navigation: Jump between editor and preview
Search & Filter: Find elements across large models

✨ Smart Editor Features

Hover Information: Rich tooltips for model elements
Auto-Refresh: Preview updates automatically on save
Diagnostics Integration: Validation errors in Problems panel

CALM VS Code Extension Interactive preview with tree navigation, editor integration, and live visualization

📋 Template & Documentation Mode

Documentation Generation: Create docs from CALM models
Live Mode: Auto-refresh as you edit
Multiple Formats: HTML and Markdown output
Custom Templates: Use built-in or custom templates

Live Docify Mode Live templating mode with real-time documentation generation

Configuration

The extension can be configured via VS Code settings (.vscode/settings.json or User Settings).

Navigate between related CALM files using detailed-architecture references.

Create a mapping file (e.g., calm-mapping.json) in your workspace:

{
  "https://specs.internal/payment-service": "./services/payment-service.json",
  "https://specs.internal/inventory": "./services/inventory.json"
}

Configure the extension to use this mapping:
```
"calm.urlMapping": "calm-mapping.json"
```

File Discovery

Customize how the extension finds your CALM models and templates.

calm.files.globs: Patterns for CALM model files (Default: ["calm/**/*.json", "calm/**/*.y?(a)ml"])
calm.template.globs: Patterns for template files (Default: ["**/*.md", "**/*.hbs", ...])
calm.cli.path: Path to the CALM CLI executable (Default: ./cli)

Getting Involved

Architecture as Code was developed as part of the DevOps Automation Special Interest Group before graduating as a top level project in it's own right. Our community Zoom meetups take place on the fourth Tuesday of every month, see here for upcoming and previous meetings. For active contributors we have Office Hours every Thursday, see the FINOS Event Calendar for meeting details.

Have an idea or feedback? Raise an issue in this repository.

Contributing: Issues and PRs welcome!

CALM Preview & Tools

FINOS