WSLC Container Console

Manage WSL containers (wslc) inside VS Code: status, start/stop, live logs, port probes and wslc run reconstruction — without memorising CLI flags.

简体中文 · Development / publishing notes live in the repository's CONTRIBUTING.md (not shipped with the extension).

Why this extension

• wslc has no GUI. Container, image, network, volume and session state is scattered across commands; checking one thing costs several invocations.
• Ports that look published but are dead. The Windows-side forwarding is proxied and is silently lost after a container is recreated, while wslc list still reports the port. Only a real TCP connect tells the truth — that is what the Ports tab does.
• wslc restart always fails for containers with Windows-path -v mounts. The correct fix is "remove, then wslc run with the original arguments", and the extension reconstructs that command for you.
• Logs need a terminal. Now one click opens a dedicated log window with follow / pause / filter / refresh.

Install

1. Extensions view → … (top right) → Install from VSIX
2. Pick wslc-console-<version>.vsix
3. Reload the window — a container icon appears in the activity bar

Requirement: wslc must work on your machine (WSL 2.9.3+). Check with wslc list.

Three-minute tour

1. Containers — click the activity bar icon. The view groups containers into Running / Stopped / Not managed by wslc.
2. Dashboard — click the dashboard icon in the view title, the "Open dashboard" row at the top of the container view, or the status bar item (Dashboard 12/12).
3. Actions — each row has Start / Stop / Logs / Details / Remove. While an action runs the row shows "Working…" and locks its buttons.

What's inside

Dashboard

The header (running/total, broken ports, CPU, memory, inventories, Top 5 by usage) stays fixed; only the tab content scrolls.

Live log window

"Logs" on a container row opens one tab per container:

• Follow — new lines scroll into view; turn it off to scroll freely
• Pause / Resume — stop updating the view while you read
• Filter lines — show only matching lines
• Refresh — drop the buffer and re-read the last 200 lines (when a stream looks stuck)
• Copy all / Clear / Close — closing the tab stops the underlying wslc logs -f
• The status chip shows Stream stopped (exit N); when connected but the container has no output yet it says "no log output available yet"

Port probes

Every published port gets a real TCP connect:

Ticking Only broken ports switches to the Ports tab automatically and shows "N probed · M broken".

Start all / Start in order / Stop all

In the Startup order tab, drag rows (or use ↑ ↓) to set the order — it is remembered.

• Start all — start every stopped managed container, one at a time
• Start in order — start them in your order and wait until each container is actually running before the next (45 s cap per container)
• Stop all — stop every running container, one at a time

The same actions are available from the command palette (WSLC: Start All Containers, WSLC: Start in Saved Order, WSLC: Stop All Containers) and from the title bar of all five views.

Details and rebuild command

"Details" opens a read-only drawer with image/status/network, the reconstructed wslc run command (copyable, never contains --restart because wslc run has no such option), risk notes (guessed single-file mount path, anonymous volume data will not be reused, truncated multi-part entrypoint, rounded memory limit) and the raw wslc inspect output.

When wslc restart fails because of Windows-path mounts, the correct flow is: copy the rebuild command → remove the container → run the command.

Also

• Events — live wslc events in the dashboard, reconnects automatically
• Guarded destructive actions — removing a container/image or terminating a session requires typing the object name
• Status bar — running/total, with a warning icon when ports are broken; click to open the dashboard

UI language

Follows the VS Code display language by default; Chinese and English are supported.

• Switch the extension UI: command palette → WSLC: Switch Display Language (takes effect immediately for everything the extension draws)
• Command titles and view names are read by VS Code at activation — reload the window after changing the language
• Or pin it with the wslcConsole.locale setting (auto / en / zh-cn)

Settings

FAQ

The log window keeps saying "no log output available yet". wslc logs genuinely has nothing for that container (common right after creation). Press Refresh; new output appears automatically once the container writes something.

Why can't some containers be started or stopped? They were created with docker run inside a wslc session, so they have no wslc metadata label and wslc cannot manage them. They are marked "not managed by wslc" and their actions are disabled.

Stopping feels slow. wslc stop hangs forever on already-stopped containers, so every command has a watchdog (25 s by default). A "timed out" result usually means the container was already stopped.

A port shows "timed out (forwarding problem)". Windows-side forwarding is lost after a container is recreated while the port list still shows it as published. Recreate the container with the rebuilt command from Details.

I changed the language but command titles stayed. VS Code reads titles/view names at activation — reload the window. Everything the extension renders itself changes immediately.

Why is CPU sometimes above 100%? wslc stats reports per-core percentages, so a multi-threaded container can show 400%. The dashboard normalises the total by logical cores and prints the raw sum underneath.

Known limitations

• Activity bar icons are masked by some themes (colour is dropped); shapes remain recognisable
• Traditional Chinese (zh-TW / zh-HK) currently falls back to Simplified Chinese
• Port probing only covers running containers and requires wslcConsole.portProbe.enabled

Feedback

When reporting an issue, include the relevant lines from WSLC: Show Logs (the Output panel), the container name and what you did. Lines such as logs <container>: webview ready at …ms / first line at …ms make it obvious whether wslc produced nothing or the UI failed to render.

简体中文

在 VS Code 里管理 WSL 容器（wslc）：看状态、启停、翻日志、查端口、还原启动命令——不用再记一长串命令行。

这个扩展解决什么

• wslc 没有图形界面：容器、镜像、网络、卷、会话分散在命令里，看一眼要点好几次
• 端口"以为通、其实不通"：容器重建后 Windows 侧转发会丢，但 wslc list 仍显示端口已发布；这里对每个宿主端口做真实 TCP 连接来区分
• wslc restart 对带 Windows 路径挂载的容器必失败：正确做法是删掉再用原参数 wslc run，扩展能把那条命令还原出来
• 日志要开终端敲命令：现在点一下就开独立窗口，边看边过滤

安装

1. 扩展视图 → 右上角 … → 从 VSIX 安装
2. 选择 wslc-console-<版本>.vsix
3. 重载窗口，左侧活动栏出现集装箱图标

前置条件：机器上能用 wslc（WSL 2.9.3+）。验证：终端执行 wslc list。

三分钟上手

1. 看容器：点活动栏图标 → 「容器」按「运行中 / 已停止 / 非 wslc 托管」分组
2. 打开仪表盘：视图顶部仪表盘图标、容器视图首行「打开仪表盘」、或状态栏 仪表盘 12/12
3. 启停：每行右侧有 启动 / 停止 / 日志 / 详情 / 删除；操作中该行显示「处理中…」并锁住按钮

功能

仪表盘：顶部（运行数、端口异常、CPU 整机占用、内存、清单计数、占用 Top 5）固定，只有标签内容区滚动。

实时日志窗口（一容器一页签）：跟随、暂停/继续、过滤行、刷新（重拉最近 200 行）、复制全部、清空、关闭（关闭即结束背后的 wslc logs -f）。流结束显示 流已结束（exit N）；连接正常但暂无输出显示「已连接，暂无可显示的日志」。

端口探活：通 / 无监听 / 超时（转发异常）。勾选「只看异常端口」会自动切到端口标签，并显示「已探活 N 个 · 异常 M 个」。

一键启动 / 按顺序启动 / 全部停止：「启动顺序」标签里拖动排序（顺序会记住）；「按顺序启动」会等上一个容器真正进入运行中再启动下一个（每个最多 45 秒）。命令面板与五个视图标题栏都有入口。

详情（只读）：镜像/状态/网络、还原出的 wslc run 重建命令（可复制，不含 --restart）、风险提示、wslc inspect 原文。wslc restart 失败时的正确流程：复制重建命令 → 删除容器 → 执行命令。

界面语言

默认跟随 VS Code 显示语言，支持中英文。切换：命令面板 WSLC: 切换显示语言（扩展自己画的界面立刻生效）；命令标题与视图名由 VS Code 在激活时读取，需重载窗口；也可用设置 wslcConsole.locale 固定。

设置项

常见问题

日志一直「暂无可显示的日志」？ 说明容器确实还没有输出（常见于刚创建）。点「刷新」重拉，容器产生新输出后会自动出现。

有些容器不能启停？ 它们在 wslc 会话里用 docker run 创建，没有 wslc 元数据标签，wslc 管不了；行内标「非 wslc 托管」，按钮禁用。

停止很慢？ wslc stop 对已停止容器会挂死，所以每条命令带看门狗（默认 25 秒后强制结束）。看到超时通常表示容器本来就已经停了。

端口显示「超时（转发异常）」？ 容器重建后 Windows 侧转发丢失，但列表仍显示已发布；用「详情」里的重建命令重新创建容器。

改了语言但命令标题没变？ 命令标题/视图名由 VS Code 激活时读取，需重载窗口；扩展自己渲染的部分立即生效。

CPU 为什么超过 100%？ wslc stats 是"占单核"百分比，多线程容器可到 400%；仪表盘合计已按逻辑核折算成整机占比，并在下方标注原始合计。

已知限制

• 部分主题会把活动栏图标按遮罩渲染（丢色），形状仍可辨认
• 繁体中文（zh-TW / zh-HK）暂回退到简体
• 端口探活只覆盖运行中的容器，且需要 wslcConsole.portProbe.enabled 开启

反馈

请附上 WSLC: 显示日志（Output 面板）里的相关行、容器名与操作步骤。里面的 logs <容器>: webview ready at …ms / first line at …ms 能直接区分"wslc 没输出"还是"界面没渲染"。