MirthSync for VS Code

Mirth Connect and Open Integration Engine development in VS Code — channel sync, IntelliSense for Mirth scripting APIs, multi-server connection management, and a one-command local Mirth Docker stack for offline testing.

By Saga IT, LLC — full details on the MirthSync for VS Code product page.

Note: This is a community extension developed by Saga IT, LLC. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by NextGen Healthcare. Mirth and Mirth Connect are trademarks of NextGen Healthcare.

Features

• Channel & Template Sync - Pull/push individual channels, channel groups, code template libraries, or sync all at once

• Connection Management - Multi-server connection profiles with secure credential storage (VS Code Secrets API)

• IntelliSense - Autocomplete and hover documentation for Mirth JavaScript APIs

  

• Status Bar Controls - Quick toggles for ConfigMap inclusion, Force sync, and Deploy after push

• File Explorer Integration - Right-click on Channels/CodeTemplates folders to pull/push directly

• Tree Views - Browse channels and code templates hierarchically with context menu actions

• Local Mirth - One-command Docker Compose stack with Open Integration Engine + Postgres, for testing this workspace against a throwaway local Mirth

• OpenShare - Easy access to your engine, wherever it lives: push and pull channels to a Mirth server behind a firewall or NAT, with no VPN and no inbound ports. Entirely optional, and free for your own server.

Quick Start

1. Install the extension from the VS Code marketplace (or from VSIX)
2. Open Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P)
3. Run MirthSync: Add Connection and enter your Mirth server details
4. Set the connection as active and connect
5. Use tree views or commands to pull/push channels

Commands

Connection Management

MirthSync Operations

Tree View Context Menu Commands

Mirth CLI Operations

Local Mirth

OpenShare

Settings

Tree Views

The extension adds three tree views to the Explorer sidebar:

Mirth Connections

Manage your Mirth server connections. Right-click for options:

• Connect/Disconnect
• Test Connection
• Set as Active
• Edit/Remove

Mirth Channels

Browse channels organized by channel groups (visible when connected). Right-click to:

• Pull/Push individual channels
• Pull/Push entire channel groups

Code Templates

Browse code template libraries (visible when connected). Right-click to:

• Pull/Push individual templates
• Pull/Push entire libraries

File Explorer Integration

When connected, right-click on folders in the file explorer to sync:

• Channels/ - Pull or push channel configurations
• CodeTemplates/ - Pull or push code template libraries
• GlobalScripts/ - Pull or push global scripts
• ConfigurationMap.xml - Pull or push configuration map
• Resources.xml - Pull or push resources

Status Bar

The status bar shows:

• Connection status - Current active connection and state
• ConfigMap - Whether Configuration Map is included (click to toggle)
• Force - Whether force sync is enabled (click to toggle)
• Deploy - Whether deploy after push is enabled (click to toggle)

Local Mirth

For testing this workspace against a throwaway local Mirth without installing anything on the host beyond Docker, run MirthSync: Initialize Local Mirth. It scaffolds .mirthsync/local/ with a compose stack and pulls the engine image (Docker only re-downloads a tag it does not already have, so this is what picks up a rebuilt tag):

• mirth — Saga-packaged Open Integration Engine (sagait/engine, OIE with Saga plugins preinstalled), exposed on 127.0.0.1:8443 (or an auto-chosen fallback if 8443 is busy)
• postgres — Mirth's backing database, on a named volume
• tools — Alpine + JRE + mirthsync (and curl/git/jq) for running CLI operations inside the stack

Set mirthsync.localMirth.mirthImageTag to switch to a different sagait/engine tag, or edit compose.yml to point at openintegrationengine/engine for vanilla OIE.

Then run MirthSync: Start Local Mirth. The extension auto-creates a Local Mirth connection and routes its mirthsync calls into the tools container, so you don't need mirthsync on your host for this workflow. If 8443 is already in use on your machine, the extension will detect the conflict, suggest an alternate port, and remember the choice in .mirthsync/local/.env for next time.

To open the Mirth Administrator against the local server, install a launcher on your host and point it at the URL shown in Show Local Mirth Info:

• Ballista — community launcher used with Open Integration Engine. Requires a host JRE 8+.
• NextGen MCAL — legacy NextGen Mirth Connect Administrator Launcher. Bundles its own JRE.

Default credentials are admin / admin; the Administrator will prompt you to change the password on first login.

Prefer a standalone engine outside VS Code? Saga's five-minute Docker quickstart walks through running Mirth/OIE locally.

Easy access to your engine, wherever it lives

Not every Mirth engine is reachable from your laptop. Plenty of them sit behind a firewall, on a customer's network, or on the far side of a NAT, and the usual answer is a VPN, a jump box, or an inbound port nobody wants to open.

OpenShare carries Mirth Connect's administration API over an end-to-end encrypted tunnel, so you can push and pull channels to an engine behind a firewall or NAT. No VPN, no inbound ports. It is entirely optional, and nothing else in this extension depends on it.

From VS Code it looks like any other connection. Pick a server and MirthSync brings up the tunnel, asks once for that engine's Mirth credentials, and creates an ordinary connection profile. Push, pull, the channel tree, and the code template tree then behave exactly as they do against a server on your own network.

Getting set up

1. Run MirthSync: Get Started, or click the cloud icon in the Mirth Connections view title bar.
2. Sign in, or create an account, without leaving VS Code.
3. Register your engine in the OpenShare Console and install the Gateway plugin. The installer dialog defaults to "Plugin only", so switch it to "Engine installer" if you do not have an engine running yet. An existing engine needs a restart afterwards, because the plugin is read at start. Wait for the server to read Registered.
4. Run MirthSync: List OpenShare Servers and pick it.

Console, monitoring, and gateway access to your own server are free forever, and read and write access is selectable on every tier. Only the cross organization network is paid.

What the extension does not do

It never creates or configures OpenShare connections. Provisioning, access levels, and who is allowed to reach which server are decided in the OpenShare Console; the extension only uses what is already there.

Requirements

• VS Code 1.85.0 or higher
• mirthsync CLI tool (for sync operations against non-local Mirth servers)
• Open-source Mirth Connect (4.5.2, the last open-source release), Open Integration Engine (OIE), or BridgeLink
• Docker (only required for the Local Mirth feature)
• An OpenShare account and the Gateway plugin on the engine, only if you want to reach a server without setting up a VPN or an inbound port

Compatibility

MirthSync talks to the standard Mirth Connect REST API, so it works with the open-source lineage of the engine — not the closed-source commercial product:

• Mirth® Connect (open source) — the open-source releases through 4.5.2, the last open-source version
• Open Integration Engine (OIE) — the community fork of that last open-source release
• BridgeLink — a community distribution built on the same lineage

It does not target the closed-source commercial version (NextGen Connect 4.6 and later). Not sure which engine is right for you? See OIE vs BridgeLink vs Mirth Connect.

Installing mirthsync

The preferred method is via npm:

npm install -g @saga-it/mirthsync

Alternatively, download from GitHub releases. New to the CLI? Start with getting started with mirthsync.

Telemetry

This extension sends a small amount of anonymous usage data — command IDs and durations, success/failure outcomes, numeric error codes, non-default-setting booleans, the distribution channel and editor the build runs in (e.g. marketplace/openvsx, vscode/cursor), and VS Code's standard environment identifiers. If you use OpenShare, it also records whether the one offer was shown and which button you pressed, whether a sign-in or account creation completed, a bucketed count of how many servers your account can reach, and whether a tunnel came up. We never send channel/template/script content, server URLs, usernames, credentials, file paths, subprocess output, or anything identifying your OpenShare account, organization, or servers.

Opt out with either:

• telemetry.telemetryLevel = off (VS Code-wide), or
• mirthsync.telemetry.enabled = false (this extension only).

Data lands in Azure Application Insights (Saga IT, LLC), 90-day retention. See TELEMETRY.md for the full collected / never-collected lists and how to audit events live via the MirthSync Telemetry output channel.

Related Projects

• mirthsync - CLI tool for syncing Mirth configurations
• Open Integration Engine (OIE) - Open source integration engine

Resources from Saga IT

Saga IT builds and maintains MirthSync, and provides Mirth Connect & OIE integration consulting:

• Mirth Connect consulting & development
• Healthcare integration-engine services
• Why we publish to two marketplaces (VS Code + Open VSX)

License

Copyright (c) 2024-2026 Saga IT, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

This is proprietary software. Use is governed by the license shipped inside the extension package; contact saga-it.com for licensing inquiries.