Podman Status Monitor

A Visual Studio Code extension that monitors and manages Podman machines directly from your editor, eliminating context switching and boosting productivity.

✨ Features

🔍 Real-Time Machine Status

Monitor your Podman machine status at a glance with live updates in the VS Code status bar:

• Running: 🟢 Podman: Running (1/1) machine(s)
• Stopped: 🔴 Podman: Stopped (0/2) machine(s)
• Hover over the status bar to see detailed information about each machine:
  • ▶ Running podman-machine1
  • ⏹ Stopped podman-machine2
  • ▶ Running podman-machine3

🚀 Quick Machine Management

• Start Machines: Start stopped machines directly from VS Code with a single click
• Multi-Machine Support: Select specific machines to start or start all at once
• Create Machines: Initialize new Podman machines without leaving your editor
• Status Refresh: Right-click the status bar to manually refresh machine status

🛠️ Smart Detection

• Automatically detects Podman installation
• Prompts with installation links if Podman is not found
• Identifies missing machines and offers quick creation options
• Detects when system reboot is required for machine startup

💻 Platform Support

• Windows (with WSL2 or Hyper-V)
• macOS
• Linux (status monitoring)

📦 Installation

From VS Code Marketplace

1. Open VS Code
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+X (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+X (macOS) to open Extensions
3. Search for "Podman Status Monitor"
4. Click Install

Manual Installation (VSIX)

1. Download the .vsix file from the Releases page
2. Open VS Code Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X)
3. Click the ... menu at the top-right
4. Select Install from VSIX...
5. Choose the downloaded .vsix file

🚀 Getting Started

1. Install the extension following the instructions above
2. The extension activates automatically when VS Code starts
3. Check the status bar (bottom-left) for Podman machine status
4. Hover over the status to see machine details
5. Click the status to start stopped machines or create new ones
6. Right-click to refresh the status

First-Time Setup

If Podman is not installed, the extension will:

• Display a notification with installation instructions
• Provide direct links to official Podman documentation
• Guide you through machine creation once Podman is installed

📋 Requirements

• Podman 4.0 or higher
• VS Code 1.95.0 or higher
• Operating System:
  • Windows 10/11 with WSL2 or Hyper-V
  • macOS 11.0 (Big Sur) or higher
  • Linux (any distribution with Podman support)

🎯 Usage Examples

Starting a Stopped Machine

1. When machines are stopped, a notification appears: "Some Podman machines are not running. Would you like to start them?"
2. Click Start Machines
3. Select the machine(s) you want to start
4. Monitor progress in the notification area

Creating a New Machine

1. If no machines exist, click the status bar notification
2. Click Create Machine
3. Enter a machine name (or press Enter for default: podman-machine-default)
4. Wait for initialization to complete
5. Optionally start the machine immediately

Multi-Machine Management

• View all machine statuses by hovering over the status bar
• Start multiple machines simultaneously by selecting them from the quick pick menu
• Individual machine status is displayed in a formatted table

⚙️ Extension Settings

This extension currently works out-of-the-box with no configuration required. Future versions will include:

• Custom status bar position
• Auto-start preferences
• Notification frequency settings
• Machine naming conventions

🐛 Known Issues

• Failed to create podman machine: While creating podman machine user may face Failed to create Podman machine 'podman-machine-default': Error: vm "<machine name>" already exists on hypervisor. This happens if users unsuccessfully removed an old podman machine and tried to create a new machine with a same name. This occurs as the WSL distro was not unregistred successfully when the podman machine was deleted. To fix this issue. Open a terminal and run the below command -

  wsl --unregister <machine name>"
  

This item is in the TODO list to automate the fix.

For a complete list, see Issues.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Here's how you can help:

1. Report Bugs: Open an issue
2. Request Features: Submit a feature request
3. Submit PRs: See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines

Development Setup

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/koushikkarmakar99/podman_status_monitor.git

# Install dependencies
cd podman_status_monitor
npm install
npm install --save-dev @types/vscode@^1.95.0

# Compile and watch
npm run compile

# Press F5 in VS Code to start debugging

📝 Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for a list of changes in each version.

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Podman - The amazing container engine
• VS Code Extension API - Microsoft's excellent extension framework
• All contributors who help improve this extension

📞 Support

• Issues: GitHub Issues

Made with ❤️ for the containerization community

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