vNext Forge Studio

Workflow design and management tool for the vNext engine ecosystem, delivered as a VS Code extension. Provides a visual workflow designer, component editors, an integrated C# script editor with IntelliSense, Quick Run runtime testing, and project scaffolding — all within your editor.

Features

Visual Workflow Designer

Design state-machine workflows on a zoomable, pannable canvas. States are represented as nodes and transitions as directed edges.

• Drag-and-drop state creation (Initial, Intermediate, Success, Error, Terminated, Suspended, SubFlow)
• Visual transition editing with connection handles
• Two auto-layout engines: Dagre (fast) and ELK (advanced edge routing)
• Configurable flow direction (top-to-bottom / left-to-right) and edge styles (smooth step / curved / straight)
• State property panel with General, Tasks, Transitions, and Error Boundary tabs
• Searchable state/transition list with canvas navigation
• Undo / Redo, Save / Save As, single-file Publish

Component Editors

Dedicated visual editors for every vNext component type, each opening as a VS Code editor tab:

• Task Editor — Form-based task configuration with support for HTTP Request, Script (C#), Dapr Binding, Dapr PubSub, Dapr Service Invocation, Direct Trigger, SubProcess, Start Workflow, Get Instance Data, and Get Instances
• Schema Editor — Visual property editor with type dropdowns and a real-time "Validate Payload" tester; toggle to raw JSON source mode
• View Editor — UI view definitions for runtime form layouts
• Function Editor — Reusable C# script function definitions
• Extension Editor — Cross-cutting extension definitions with lifecycle hooks

CSX Mapping Editor (C# Script)

Embedded Monaco editor for editing mapping, condition, and rule scripts:

• C# syntax highlighting with IntelliSense powered by OmniSharp (completions, hover info, signatures)
• Real-time diagnostics (errors and warnings in the status bar)
• Snippet quick bar for common patterns (HTTP setup, response parse, error handling, config access, PubSub, Dapr service calls, and more)
• Searchable C# API reference panel with one-click copy for all ScriptBase, ScriptContext, and ScriptResponse methods
• Open in a full-size VS Code tab for larger edits

Quick Run — Runtime Testing

Test workflows against a live vNext runtime without leaving VS Code:

• Start instances with custom keys, stages, tags, attributes, and headers
• Fire transitions using schema-driven forms or raw JSON input
• Inspect instance data — View, Data, History, and Correlations tabs
• Monitor history — Chronological transition log with duration, trigger type, and source→target mapping
• SubFlow tracking — Correlations tab shows related child workflow instances
• Filtering — Filter instances by status, fields, or custom attributes with sortable results
• Global headers — Persistent headers sent with every request (with secret masking)
• Retry state — Re-execute a state with modified headers
• Multi-tab — Run multiple instances concurrently in separate tabs

Project Scaffolding

Create new vNext projects with a guided wizard:

1. Run Forge: Create vnext Project from the Command Palette or Forge Tools sidebar
2. Enter a domain name, optional description, and folder location
3. The extension scaffolds the project using @burgan-tech/vnext-template
4. Open in a new window or add to the current workspace

Workspace Configuration Editor

Visual editor for vnext.config.json — manage project identity, runtime/schema versions, component folder paths, exports, and cross-project dependencies without editing raw JSON.

Documentation & Deployment

• Workflow documentation preview — Live Markdown preview with Mermaid state diagrams, one-click copy
• Generate Documents — Project-wide Markdown documentation for all components (workflows, tasks, schemas, views, functions, extensions, dependency tree)
• Package Deploy — Deploy workflows (wf update --all, wf update, wf csx --all) from the sidebar or per-file from the designer toolbar

Forge Tools Sidebar

The vNext Forge Tools panel in the Activity Bar provides:

• Settings — Canvas layout, theme, editor, and Quick Run polling preferences
• Project — Validate, Build Runtime, Build Reference, Generate Documents
• Environments — Add/edit/delete runtime environments with health monitoring
• Package Deploy — One-click deployment commands
• Quick Run — Workflow launcher

Getting Started

1. Install the extension from the VS Code Marketplace or from a .vsix file
2. Open a folder containing a vnext.config.json file — the extension activates automatically
3. Right-click any component .json file and select Forge: Open with vNext Forge, or use the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P) and type Forge

Prerequisites

• VS Code 1.85 or later
• A vNext project folder (or use Forge: Create vnext Project to scaffold one)

Commands

See all commands →

Extension Settings

All settings are under the vnextForge namespace:

Code Snippets

When editing .csx files in the VS Code text editor, type a prefix and press Tab:

See all snippets →

Troubleshooting

Diagnostic logs are available in VS Code Output channels: vnext-forge-studio, vnext-forge-studio-core, vnext-forge-studio:webview, and vnext-forge-studio:csx-native-lsp.

Full troubleshooting guide →

Documentation

For the complete usage guide, see the full documentation.

License

See LICENSE for details.