LambdaFlow — VS Code Extension

Build, configure, and manage LambdaFlow desktop applications without ever leaving VS Code.

LambdaFlow lets you ship desktop apps with a web frontend and any backend language — your web UI runs inside a native WebView2 window, connected to your process via a secure named-pipe IPC channel. This extension wires the framework's tooling directly into the editor.

Requirements

Requirement	Notes
.NET 8 SDK	Needed to run the LambdaFlow CLI
LambdaFlow source tree	Clone from the repository and set the path in Settings
Windows 10 / 11	WebView2 is Windows-only for now

Getting started

Clone the LambdaFlow framework to a local directory (e.g. C:\Dev\LambdaFlow).
Open VS Code Settings (Ctrl+,) and search for LambdaFlow.
Set LambdaFlow: Framework Path to the root of the cloned repository.
Click the λ icon in the Activity Bar on the left to open the LambdaFlow sidebar.

The LambdaFlow sidebar has two states:

No project open

A prompt and a + New Project button are shown. Click it to launch the new-project wizard.

Project open

When the active workspace folder contains a config.json at its root, the sidebar shows:

The project name, version, and IPC transport
Edit Configuration — opens the visual config editor
Build — compiles the backend and packages the frontend into a distributable bundle

New Project wizard

Command: LambdaFlow: New Project
Sidebar button: + New Project

Walks you through five prompts:

Application name — used as the project name and default window title
Backend template language — C#, Java, or Python
Target directory — where the project will be created (defaults to <workspace>/Apps/<name>)
Backend compile command — prefilled from language defaults, fully editable
Backend compile output directory — prefilled from language defaults, fully editable

The CLI runs in an integrated terminal. When it finishes, you'll be offered an Open Folder button to jump straight into the new project.

Language defaults used by the wizard:

Language	Compile command default	Compile directory default
C#	`dotnet publish Backend.csproj -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained false -o bin`	`bin`
Java	`mvn -q -DskipTests package`	`target`
Python	`python build.py`	`bin`

The framework path must be configured before running this command.

Configuration editor

Command: LambdaFlow: Edit Configuration
Sidebar button: Edit Configuration

Opens a visual editor for config.json with sections for:

Section	Fields
App	Name, version, organization, app icon path
Window	Title, initial size, min/max size
Frontend	Entry HTML, source folder
Backend	Source folder, Windows x64 compile command and output directory
Security & IPC	IPC transport (Named Pipe or StdIO); security mode is always Hardened
Output	Result folder for build artifacts

Click Save to write changes back to config.json. Click Reset to revert to the values on disk.

Build

Command: LambdaFlow: Build
Sidebar button: Build

Runs the LambdaFlow CLI build in an integrated terminal. The CLI:

Compiles the backend using the command in config.json
Packs the frontend folder into frontend.pak
Generates lambdaflow.integrity.json (SHA-256 manifest verified at every launch)
Copies the host executable and result into the configured result folder

Extension settings

Setting	Default	Description
`lambdaflow.frameworkPath`	(empty)	Absolute path to the LambdaFlow source directory. Required for all commands.

Set this in User or Machine scope — not Workspace, so it works across all your projects.

Commands

All commands are accessible from the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P):

Command	Description
`LambdaFlow: New Project`	Create a new app from a template
`LambdaFlow: Build`	Build the open project
`LambdaFlow: Edit Configuration`	Open the visual config editor

How it works

Activity Bar (λ)
    └── Sidebar panel (WebviewView)
            ├── Reads config.json from the workspace root
            ├── Detects project: name / version / IPC transport
            └── Sends messages → VS Code commands
                    ├── lambdaflow.newProject  → InputBox wizard → Terminal
                    ├── lambdaflow.openConfig  → WebviewPanel (ConfigEditorPanel)
                    └── lambdaflow.buildProject → Terminal

The sidebar refreshes automatically when config.json is saved or the workspace folder changes.

LambdaFlow

SimpleLambda