Sandbox your project runtimes — automatically detect and enforce local Node.js, Python, Java, and Go runtimes installed by Containless, so your editor and terminal never touch global installs.
Installation
Launch VS Code Quick Open (Ctrl+P), paste the following command, and press enter.
Sandbox your project runtimes — automatically detect and enforce local Node.js, Python, Java, and Go runtimes so your editor and terminal never touch global installs.
✨ Features
🔍 Auto-detection — Detects installed Containless runtimes the moment you open a workspace
🔒 Full sandbox — Terminal PATH is overridden so every command uses the local runtime
🐍 Python — Configures the interpreter path and virtual environment
🟢 Node.js — Configures Node.js for ESLint, npm, and the terminal
☕ Java — Sets JAVA_HOME for the Java extension pack
🔵 Go — Sets GOROOT and alternate tools for the Go extension
👀 Live reload — Watches containless.json and reconfigures automatically on changes
🚀 How It Works
Open a workspace that contains a containless.json
The extension activates automatically
It scans .containless/runtimes/ for installed runtimes
Workspace settings are updated to point all tools to local runtimes
Terminal PATH is prepended with local binary directories
Result: Every tool in VS Code — IntelliSense, linting, debugging, and the terminal — uses the project-local runtime instead of whatever is installed globally.
📋 Commands
Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P) and run:
Command
Description
Containless: Detect and Configure Runtimes
Manually trigger runtime detection and configuration
Containless: Reset to Global Runtimes
Remove all sandbox settings and restore global defaults
⚙️ What Gets Configured
Python
python.defaultInterpreterPath → local Python or venv executable
Node.js
eslint.runtime → local Node.js executable
npm.binPath → local Node.js bin directory
Java
java.jdt.ls.java.home → local Java home
Go
go.goroot → local Go SDK root
go.alternateTools → local Go binary
Terminal
terminal.integrated.env.{platform}.PATH → prepended with all local runtime bin directories
Open the project in VS Code — the extension takes care of the rest!
❓ Troubleshooting
| Problem | Solution |
|---------|----------|
| No runtimes detected | Run containless run first to install runtimes |
| Terminal still uses global runtime | Close the terminal and open a new one (Ctrl+\``) | | Settings not applied | Check .vscode/settings.json in your workspace | | IDE still using global runtimes | Restart VS Code or reload the window (Ctrl+Shift+P` → Reload Window) |
