Overture

Run and manage multiple app processes from a single VS Code sidebar panel — with per-app terminals, live logs, and automatic project detection.

Features

• Sidebar panel — view all your apps at a glance with live status indicators
• Per-app terminals — each process runs in its own VS Code terminal tab with full color and interactivity
• Log files — output is simultaneously written to .overture/logs/<app>-YYYY-MM-DD.log (ANSI stripped, timestamped)
• Auto-scan — detects all Node.js projects in your workspace and lists their npm scripts
• Enable / Disable — toggle apps on or off without removing them from config
• Log retention — old logs are auto-cleaned after a configurable number of days (default: 7)

Installation

Install from the .vsix file:

code --install-extension overture-1.0.3.vsix

Or via VS Code: Extensions → ··· → Install from VSIX

Quick Start

1. Open your project folder in VS Code
2. Click the Overture icon in the activity bar (left sidebar)
3. Click Create Config — this immediately opens a scanner to detect your projects
4. Select the scripts you want to run and confirm
5. Click Start All (▶▶ icon) to launch everything

Config File

The extension reads .overture/config.json from your workspace root.

{
  "retentionDays": 7,
  "apps": [
    {
      "name": "frontend",
      "path": "./packages/frontend",
      "command": "npm run dev",
      "enabled": true
    },
    {
      "name": "backend",
      "path": "./packages/backend",
      "command": "npm run dev",
      "enabled": true
    },
    {
      "name": "worker",
      "path": "./packages/worker",
      "command": "npm run dev",
      "enabled": false
    }
  ]
}

The file is watched — changes take effect immediately without reloading VS Code.

Sidebar Panel

Click the Overture icon in the activity bar to open the panel.

Status indicators

Toolbar buttons

Per-app inline buttons

Right-click any app or use the inline icons:

Scanning for Projects

Click the magnifying glass icon or run Overture: Scan Workspace for Node.js Projects from the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P).

The scanner:

• Finds every package.json in the workspace (skips node_modules, dist, build, out)
• Lists all scripts grouped by project
• Pre-selects dev, start, serve, preview, develop scripts
• Marks already-configured scripts so you don't add duplicates

After confirming your selection, scripts are appended to .overture/config.json. You can scan multiple times safely.

Terminals & Logs

Each app runs in its own VS Code terminal tab named ▶ <appname>.

• Full ANSI color support — npm spinners, colors, etc. render correctly
• The terminal is interactive — you can type into it (stdin is forwarded)
• Closing the terminal tab stops the process

Log files are written to .overture/logs/:

• One file per app per day: frontend-2026-04-16.log
• ANSI codes stripped, each line prefixed with [HH:MM:SS]
• Files older than retentionDays are deleted automatically on next start

Commands (Command Palette)

All commands are available via Ctrl+Shift+P → type Overture:

Status Bar

The bottom-left status bar shows the running count:

• ▶ Overture — nothing running, click to start all
• ● 2/3 running — 2 of 3 enabled apps are running, click to start remaining