SmolVM Manager
A VS Code extension to manage SmolVM
microVM sandboxes from within the editor, powered by the
smolvm-sdk Node JS SDK.
Features
- SmolVM activity-bar view listing your machines and their status. The list
is populated from
smolvm machine ls --json at startup and refreshed
periodically (and after each action).
- Create, start, stop, and delete machines from the view title bar and inline
actions — all backed by the
smolmachines SDK.
- Open Shell: drop into a running machine in a dedicated VS Code terminal.
- The machine registry (names + last-known status) is persisted in workspace
state; machines are created
persistent so they can be reconnected after a
reload.
About the shell
The SDK exposes exec/execStream, not an interactive PTY, so Open Shell
opens a normal VS Code terminal and runs the smolvm CLI:
smolvm machine exec --name <name> -it -- /bin/sh
The CLI's -it provides a real interactive PTY (so vim, top, etc. work).
Configure the CLI binary with smolvm.cliPath (default smolvm) and the in-VM
shell with smolvm.shell (default /bin/sh). The machine is started via the
SDK first if it isn't already running.
Requirements
smolmachines links a native engine. Per its docs, the local (embedded)
transport needs macOS Apple Silicon or Linux x64/arm64 with glibc ≥ 2.34
and KVM. On unsupported hosts the SDK calls will fail at runtime.
Getting started
smolmachines is kept external from the bundle (it loads a platform
specific .node addon at runtime) and is shipped in the packaged extension
via a .vscodeignore negation.
Configuration
Creating a machine walks you through its configuration (image, resources, and
the folder to bind). Number/image fields are pre-filled with the defaults below
— press Enter to accept, edit to override, or blank to fall back. For the mount
you choose Workspace root, Choose folder… (a folder picker over the
filesystem), or Don't mount; by default the workspace root is bind-mounted
(read-write) at /workspace.
All settings below map to the SDK's MachineConfig. Optional ones (null/empty)
are omitted so the SDK applies its own defaults.
| Setting |
Default |
Purpose |
smolvm.cliPath |
smolvm |
smolvm CLI binary (list + Open Shell). |
smolvm.refreshIntervalSeconds |
60 |
Polling interval for machine ls (0 = off). |
smolvm.shell |
/bin/sh |
In-VM shell launched by Open Shell. |
smolvm.image |
"" |
Default base OCI image for new machines (blank = bare Alpine). |
smolvm.mountSource |
"" |
Host folder to bind (blank = workspace root). |
smolvm.workspaceMount |
/workspace |
In-VM path to bind the chosen folder. |
smolvm.persistent |
true |
Keep machines for reconnect (needed for Start/Shell after reload). |
smolvm.ports |
[] |
Host→guest port mappings. |
smolvm.autoStopSeconds |
unset |
Auto-stop after N idle seconds (cloud). |
smolvm.ttlSeconds |
unset |
Delete after N seconds (cloud). |
smolvm.resources.cpus |
2 |
vCPUs for new machines. |
smolvm.resources.memoryMb |
1024 |
Memory (MB) for new machines. |
smolvm.resources.network |
true |
Outbound network access for new machines. |
smolvm.resources.storageGb |
unset (20) |
Storage disk size (GB) for new machines. |
smolvm.resources.overlayGb |
unset (10) |
Overlay disk size (GB) for new machines. |
Project layout
| Path |
Purpose |
src/extension.ts |
Activation entry point; registers commands. |
src/machineManager.ts |
SDK wrapper: registry + create/start/stop/delete. |
src/instanceProvider.ts |
Tree data provider; delegates to the manager. |
esbuild.js |
Bundler configuration. |
package.json |
Extension manifest (views, commands, menus, config). |
