VS Codeee

A project to run VSCode with Tauri 2.0

Important

MVP Release Target: Late April 2026
Want to get notified? Watch this repo (Watch → Custom → Releases) to stay updated.

Purpose

Maintain the current functionality of VSCode while achieving the following:

• Reduce memory usage: Electron → Tauri 2.0 (native WebView instead of bundled Chromium)
• Reduce unnecessary metrics: Stop sending telemetry to Microsoft
• Smaller binary size: ~50% reduction expected without bundled Chromium

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Roadmap

Current Phase: Phase 5 — Process Model 📋

Phase	Name	Goal	Status
0	Feasibility Spike	Validate Tauri can host VS Code	✅ Complete
1	Foundation Layer	Render workbench shell in Tauri WebView	✅ Complete
2A	Functional File Editing	Open, edit, and save local files	✅ Complete
2B	Editing Polish	File watchers, remaining native methods	✅ Complete
3A	Window Registry	Dynamic window IDs, scoped IPC, multi-window registry	✅ Complete
3B	Custom Title Bar	Draggable title bar, traffic lights, window controls	✅ Complete
3C	State Persistence	Window position/size + workspace session restore	✅ Complete
3D	Lifecycle Close Handshake	Two-phase close for reliable session restore	✅ Complete
4	Native Host Services	Extension scanner, OS theme, native host modularization	✅ Complete
5A	Extension Host	Node.js sidecar + WebSocket ↔ Rust relay ↔ Unix Socket	✅ Complete
5B	Terminal PTY	Rust PTY → Tauri IPC → TauriTerminalBackend → Terminal UI	✅ Complete
5C	Shared Process Elimination	Abolish Shared Process; services in WebView/Rust	📋 Planned
5D	Extension ESM Fix	Fix ESM module resolution for built-in extensions	✅ Complete
6	Platform Features	Auto-update, native menus, system tray	📋 Planned
7	Build & Packaging	Installers, code signing, CI/CD	📋 Planned

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Phase Details

Phase 0: Feasibility Spike

Status: ✅ Complete (GO) — All sub-phases passed. See Issue #7.

Sub-Phase	Result	PR/Issue
0-1: Tauri Project Init	✅	PR #1
0-2: Extension Host Sidecar PoC	✅	PR #2
0-3: Custom Protocol (vscode-file://)	✅	PR #4
0-4: PTY Host (Rust portable-pty)	✅	PR #3
0-5: BrowserView Alternative Investigation	✅	Issue #5

Phase 1: Foundation Layer

Status: ✅ Complete — PR #9

Implemented the workbench shell that renders VS Code's full UI inside a Tauri 2.0 WebView with zero fatal errors.

What was built:

• Binary IPC protocol (base64-encoded VSBuffer over Tauri invoke/emit)
• 25+ core services registered (File, Storage, Remote, Configuration, etc.)
• Custom vscode-file:// protocol handler for resource loading
• Tauri-specific platform layer (tauri-browser/) with environment, lifecycle, and host services
• 24 files changed, 2658 lines added

Phase 2A: Functional File Editing

Status: ✅ Complete — PR #17

The bridge from "UI renders" to "you can actually edit files." Implements IFileSystemProvider with direct Tauri invoke() calls — same pattern as NativeHostService. IPC binary routing is deferred to Phase 3 (needed for Extension Host, not for file editing).

Task	Description	Depends On	Status
2A-0: Pre-work	Kill IPC echo router + add npm plugin packages	—	✅
2A-1: Local FileSystem	Rust fs commands + TauriDiskFileSystemProvider	2A-0	✅
2A-2: UserData Persistence	Settings/state persisted to disk (real OS paths)	2A-1	✅
2A-3: File Dialogs	tauri-plugin-dialog + showMessageBox	2A-1	✅
2A-4: NativeHost Methods	Clipboard, shell, window basics (~8 methods)	2A-0	✅

Architecture:

  TypeScript (WebView)                    Rust (Backend)
  ┌──────────────────────────┐           ┌──────────────────────┐
  │ TauriDiskFileSystemProvider│          │ #[tauri::command]     │
  │ implements IFileSystem-   │─invoke()─▶│ fs_stat, fs_read_file │
  │ Provider                  │          │   ↓ tokio::fs         │
  └──────────────────────────┘           │ Local Disk            │
                                         └──────────────────────┘

Phase 2B: Editing Polish

Status: ✅ Complete — See PR #25.

Sub-task	Description	Depends on	Status
File Watcher	Rust notify crate + TauriWatcher TypeScript bridge	—	✅
Trash Support	trash crate in DiskFileSystemProvider	—	✅
New Window (Cmd+Shift+N)	invoke('open_new_window') via TauriWorkspaceProvider	—	✅
NativeHost Methods	installShellCommand, killProcess, relaunch, etc.	—	✅
Runtime Bug Fixes	Import strategy, watcher error handling, compilation fixes	—	✅

Phase 3: Window Management

Replace Electron BrowserWindow with Tauri WebviewWindow. Multi-window, title bar customization, auxiliary windows.

Phase 3A: Window Registry ✅

Centralized window management with unique monotonic IDs, WindowManager registry, scoped IPC delivery (emit_to), and ITauriWindowService DI integration. Foundation for all multi-window features.

Task	Description	Status
Rust window/ module	state, manager, events, session modules	✅
WindowManager registry	Atomic ID generation, RwLock-based HashMap, label→ID map	✅
Scoped IPC	emit_to(label) instead of global app.emit()	✅
ITauriWindowService	TS DI service for window lifecycle events	✅
NativeHostService wiring	getWindows(), getWindowCount(), event listeners	✅
Dynamic window label	URL query param resolution for multi-window bootstrap	✅

Phase 3B: Custom Title Bar ✅

Hide OS decorations, implement CSS-based draggable title bar with platform-appropriate window controls. See PR #34.

Task	Description	Status
macOS decorations	decorations(false) + TitleBarStyle::Overlay	✅
isTauri platform flag	Add to platform.ts, gate getTitleBarStyle() → CUSTOM	✅
Drag region	data-tauri-drag-region on title bar	✅
Window controls (Win/Linux)	CSS minimize/maximize/close buttons	✅
Tauri CSS	titlebarpart.tauri.css for platform-specific styles	✅

Phase 3C: State Persistence ✅

Persist window position/size and workspace state across restarts using tauri-plugin-window-state and a custom SessionStore.

Task	Description	Status
Window state plugin	tauri-plugin-window-state for position/size persistence	✅
SessionStore	sessions.json read/write for workspace restoration	✅
Restore on launch	Re-open same windows with same workspace on restart	✅
Settings reader	JSONC-aware reader for window.restoreWindows setting	✅
5 restore modes	Strategy pattern: preserve/all/folders/one/none	✅

Phase 3D: Lifecycle Close Handshake ✅

Two-phase close handshake between Rust and TypeScript to ensure IndexedDB writes complete before window destruction. Fixes editor tabs not being restored after session restore (#35).

Task	Description	Status
Rust close gate	api.prevent_close() + emit to TS + 30s timeout	✅
TauriLifecycleService	Full rewrite extending AbstractLifecycleService directly	✅
Async veto support	fireBeforeShutdown with async veto + finalVeto	✅
Storage flush before close	storageService.flush(SHUTDOWN) before window.destroy()	✅
Rust confirmed/vetoed cmds	lifecycle_close_confirmed + lifecycle_close_vetoed	✅

Phase 4: Native Host Services ✅

Built-in extension scanning and OS theme detection for the Tauri backend. Modularized the native host Rust code from a single file into a clean module structure. See PR #48.

Task	Description	Status
Built-in extension scanner	Rust list_builtin_extensions + TS TauriBuiltinExtensionsScannerService	✅
OS theme detection	TauriHostColorSchemeService with real-time dark/light switching	✅
Native host modularization	Split monolithic native_host.rs into 9 sub-modules	✅
OS info methods	hostname, arch, platform, release via tauri-plugin-os	✅
Security fixes	Escape osascript injection, fix IPC param mismatch, cfg(unix) guard	✅
ESM build fix	Per-extension CJS/ESM format in transpileExtensions() (#57)	✅

Note: 94 built-in extensions are scanned and correctly transpiled (31 CJS, 1 ESM). Extension execution requires Extension Host (Phase 5). file:// resource loading is blocked by WebView CSP — see #47. SCM provider registration is tracked in #61.

Phase 5: Process Model

Extension Host via Node.js sidecar + named pipe, Terminal via Rust portable-pty, Shared Process elimination.

Sub-task	Description	Status
Extension Host (Node sidecar)	Node.js sidecar + WebSocket ↔ Rust relay ↔ Unix Socket full pipeline (PR #58)	✅
Terminal PTY integration	Rust portable-pty → Tauri IPC → TauriTerminalBackend → VS Code Terminal UI (PR #105)	✅
Shared Process elimination	Abolish Shared Process sidecar; implement services directly in WebView/Rust (#88)	📋 Planned
Extension ESM fix	Fix ESM module resolution for built-in extensions in Extension Host (PR #103)	✅

Phase 6: Platform Features

Auto-update (tauri-plugin-updater), native menus, system tray, drag & drop, platform-specific integrations.

Phase 7: Build & Packaging

Tauri build pipeline, code signing (macOS/Windows), installers (.dmg, .msi, .AppImage, .deb), CI/CD.

Sub-task	Description	Status
ThirdPartyNotices.txt	Remove Electron deps, add Tauri/Rust dependency licenses (#27)	📋 Planned
LICENSES.chromium.html	Bundled with Electron — not needed for Tauri	📋 Planned

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Architecture

┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐
│           Tauri WebView (Renderer)       │
│  workbench.html + VS Code TypeScript     │
│  • Extension Gallery / Management        │
└──────────────┬───────────────────────────┘
               │  invoke / emit (Tauri IPC)
┌──────────────▼───────────────────────────┐
│           Tauri Rust Backend             │
│  • Custom Protocol (vscode-file://)      │
│  • PTY Manager (portable-pty)            │
│  • Window Management                     │
│  • Native Host Services                  │
└──────────────┬───────────────────────────┘
               │  socket / named pipe
┌──────────────▼───────────────────────────┐
│         Node.js Sidecar Process          │
│  • Extension Host                        │
└──────────────────────────────────────────┘

Note: Shared Process (upstream VS Code's hidden renderer for gallery, sync, telemetry) is eliminated in VSCodeee. Its services are implemented directly in the WebView or Rust backend — see #88.

MVP Excluded Features

The following features depend on Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP), which has no public API in Tauri's native WebViews (WKWebView / WebView2 / WebKitGTK). They are excluded from the MVP scope.

Feature	Reason
AI Browser Tools (Copilot web automation)	CDP-dependent (click/drag/type/screenshot)
vscode.BrowserTab API (proposed)	CDP-dependent, zero marketplace adoption
Playwright integration	CDP-dependent browser automation
Element inspection (getElementData)	CDP-dependent DOM inspection
Console log capture	CDP-dependent programmatic console access

The following Native Host Service features are deferred to post-MVP:

Feature	Reason
System proxy resolution	Requires platform-specific APIs (CFNetwork, WinHTTP, libproxy). The resolve_proxy command returns None (direct connection).
System certificate loading	The load_certificates command returns an empty list. Extensions handle their own cert loading.
Kerberos authentication	lookupKerberosAuthorization returns undefined. Requires a Kerberos library — rarely needed outside enterprise AD environments.
Window splash persistence	saveWindowSplash is a no-op. Splash data is persisted via localStorage through ISplashStorageService instead.
macOS Touch Bar	Not supported by Tauri's WebView. The Touch Bar API methods are no-ops.
macOS tab management	Window tab APIs (newWindowTab, mergeAllWindowTabs, etc.) are no-ops.
GPU info / content tracing	openGPUInfoWindow, openContentTracingWindow, startTracing, stopTracing are no-ops.
Screenshot capture	getScreenshot returns undefined. Requires platform-specific screen capture APIs.

Note

These features may be revisited if Tauri adds CDP support in the future, or if alternative approaches become viable.

Known Limitations

Architectural differences between Electron (bundled Chromium) and Tauri (native system WebView) introduce permanent or platform-specific limitations.

Feature	Limitation	Platform Details
setBackgroundThrottling	WebView internal JS timer/animation throttling cannot be controlled externally	All platforms — NSProcessInfo.beginActivity() (macOS) can prevent OS-level throttling, but WebView-internal behavior remains uncontrollable.

Note

This list covers inherent platform limitations. Features that are simply not yet implemented are tracked in individual GitHub Issues.

Contributing

Issues and PRs are welcome.
もちろん、日本語のコミュニケーション大歓迎です！

License

MIT License — see LICENSE for details.