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72 lines
3.8 KiB
Markdown
72 lines
3.8 KiB
Markdown
# VS Code / Positron Extension — Exploration
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_Point-in-time memo, 2026-07-04. Option recorded for post-1.0; nothing is being built.
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Assesses shipping Astrolabe's authoring intelligence as an editor extension._
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## The idea
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Port the editor-intelligence layer — scaffolding CodeLenses, spec-aware completions, the
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data inspector, live preview — to a VS Code extension (and Positron via OpenVSX), working
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on `.vl.json` files in the user's own workspace.
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## Why it's cheap: the core/adapter boundary
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Everything interesting is already editor-agnostic. `src/core/` (spec analysis, scaffold
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construction, site detection over JSON offsets, rendering preparation) has no Monaco
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imports; the Monaco layer (`spec-param-scaffold`, `spec-transform-scaffold`,
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`editor-cursor-lens`) is thin adapters. VS Code's extension API has one-to-one
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counterparts:
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| Astrolabe piece | VS Code counterpart |
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| ------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- |
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| CodeLens scaffolds | `languages.registerCodeLensProvider` + core verbatim |
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| Param/transform completions | `registerCompletionItemProvider` / code actions |
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| Live preview (`chart-renderer`) | Webview panel running vega-embed (same browser ctx) |
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| Data inspector (`inspectData`) | Same webview, message bridge to the render handle |
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| Bundled schema (offline) | `jsonValidation` contribution |
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| Dataset-by-name (`data.name`) | Resolve against a workspace `datasets/` folder |
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Both editors expose offset↔position conversion, so the core's offset-based site
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detection transfers without change.
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## The marketplace gap
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Preview exists; authoring help does not.
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- [Vega Viewer](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=RandomFractalsInc.vscode-vega-viewer)
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and [Vega Preview](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=mdk.vega-preview)
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render specs — preview-only.
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- The [official vega plugin](https://github.com/vega/vega-vscode) is deprecated; its note
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points out VS Code's built-in JSON service already gives `$schema`-driven completion and
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validation. **Schema completion/validation are therefore table stakes in VS Code, not
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differentiators** — unlike on the web, where Astrolabe had to build them.
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- Nothing in the marketplace offers scaffolds, an input-vs-resolved data inspector,
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dataset references, or theme configs.
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Positron (Posit's VS Code fork, OpenVSX-distributed) concentrates the Altair audience —
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people whose wrapper output is already Vega-Lite and who live in an editor. For them an
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extension is more native than any website.
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## v1 scope, if built
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In: bundled-schema validation (offline), scaffold CodeLenses (params/transforms), live
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preview panel, data inspector, `data.name` resolution against a workspace folder, theme
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as an apply-able config file. Out, deliberately: the library, drafts/publish (git covers
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it), the chart builder UI, the theme builder, fonts UI. The extension is "Astrolabe's
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authoring intelligence, detached" — the _home_ identity does not port, because in an
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editor the workspace already is the home.
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## Strategic read
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For: real organic discovery (people search "vega" in the marketplace; nobody web-searches
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for a snippet manager they don't know exists); every extension user is a lead for the
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app; the port validates the core-first architecture.
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Against: a second product surface for a single maintainer; it showcases the commodity
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part of Astrolabe (editing) rather than the unique part (the home); Positron/OpenVSX
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publishing is an extra channel to maintain.
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**Decision: defer until after the web app's 1.0.** The only standing cost of keeping the
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option open is one we already pay by conviction: keep `src/core/` free of editor and
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browser imports.
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