Microcks in VS Code — early build is testable, and I'd like adopters to break it

[Caesarsage]

Contract drift rarely gets caught by the person who caused it. It gets caught in CI, because
running a Microcks contract test locally means standing up a server, wiring Keycloak credentials and
importing the spec first — too much setup to pay for one test.

microcks test --dry-run removed that cost from the CLI. This extension moves it, and the rest of
Microcks, into the editor. It's at 0.1.0 and installable as a VSIX. It is deliberately not on the
Marketplace yet — I'd rather it meet your Microcks setups first.

What's in it

• A Microcks sidebar: Services tree (service → operations) and Tests tree (run → operation →
  step-level reason).
• Three ways to attach, and the first needs no server at all: dry-run straight from an API file
  on disk, Start Local Server, or Sign In to Remote Server with browser SSO.
• Dry-run an API file — run once, or watch and browse the ephemeral Microcks while it's up.
• Import the current API file into the connected server.
• An Operation Inspector: send a request to the mock, load its Microcks examples, and compare
  the mock response against your real service.

It's CLI-first: everything goes through microcks-cli JSON output, so there's no second Microcks
control plane in the editor and the extension never reads or stores your credentials.

Try it in five minutes

Needs VS Code 1.85+, Docker or Podman, and a CLI built from main — the editor commands ship in
1.0.3, so 1.0.2 gets rejected by the capability gate:

git clone https://github.com/microcks/microcks-cli && cd microcks-cli && make build-local

git clone https://github.com/Caesarsage/microcks-vscode && cd microcks-vscode
npm install && npm run package:vsix
code --install-extension microcks-vscode-0.1.0.vsix

Reload the window if VS Code was already open, then run Microcks: Set CLI Path and point it at
build/dist/microcks.

Now watch a test fail for a real reason. npm run example:demo-api:drift starts a server that
returns price as a string, drifting from its own contract. Open
examples/demo-api/ecommerce-api-openapi.yml, run Microcks: Run Dry-Run for API File with
service E-Commerce Platform API:2.0.0, endpoint http://localhost:3001, runner
OPEN_API_SCHEMA, operation GET /products. It fails; expand the Tests tree to the step to see
why. Restart the server conforming and re-run: green. No Microcks server, no Keycloak, no import.

Rough edges: no Marketplace or Open VSX release yet; the managed CLI installer pulls the latest
stable CLI (1.0.2) and fails the gate, so build your own for now; mock actions are thin (invoke,
copy URL, Inspector); no Explorer or editor-title integration; screenshots still pending.

What I'd like to know

1. Which path would you actually adopt — dry-run only, local server, or remote sign-in?
2. Does the CLI shell-out hold up in your environment: corporate SSO, a proxy, Podman, Keycloak
   enabled in dev?
3. What's missing before you'd leave it installed?

Rough edges are the most useful thing you can send me. Reply here, or open an issue if it's a
concrete bug.

microcks-vscode ·
microcks-cli ·
architecture notes

[Caesarsage]

cc @Vaishnav88sk @Harsh4902 @lbroudoux @yada

[Vaishnav88sk]

Hi everyone! 👋

To add a bit more context to this discussion, we recently wrapped up an awesome LFX Mentorship project where we built a Microcks VS Code Extension. Huge shoutout to Destiny for a fantastic job on the implementation and testing! 🚀

While the code is ready, Maintainers and the team want to make sure we are building something that truly benefits our users. Before we officially set up the repository under the Microcks organization and publish the extension to the VS Code Marketplace, we want to gauge community traction and the need for this tool.

Why a VS Code Extension?
Our goal is to streamline the inner development loop. Instead of constantly context-switching between your IDE, terminal, and the Microcks UI, this extension brings Microcks directly to where you write your code. By publishing this (and distributing via the OpenVSX Registry), the extension becomes available not just for standard VS Code, but also for the wider ecosystem of VS Code-compatible IDEs, such as VSCodium, Eclipse Theia, Gitpod, and AI-powered editors like Antigravity, Cursor, and Windsurf.

For example: Imagine you are working on an OpenAPI or AsyncAPI specification. With this extension, you could potentially interact with your Microcks server directly from your editor, quickly discovering existing mocks, pushing new artifacts for testing, or validating your local API contracts without ever leaving VS Code or the IDE.

We want to hear from you! Does this fit into your daily workflow? Will it make your API development lifecycle smoother?

Tagging some of our active community members and adopters to get your thoughts: @Basuchi @celidrissi @gozen59 @dataGriff @vleon1a @ludovic-pourrat. We'd love to hear your insights!

[Vaishnav88sk]

📊 Community Poll: Do we need this VS Code Extension?

To help us gauge interest, please react to this comment and drop a quick reply below:

👍 React with +1 if you think this extension is needed and would make your development workflow easier.
Please reply and tell us: What specific feature would you use the most?

👎 React with -1 if you don't feel this would be useful to you right now.
Please reply and tell us: Why? Do you prefer the existing CLI/UI, or does your workflow rely on different tools?

Every piece of feedback helps us prioritize our efforts. Thank you! 🙏