Run Locally

Prerequisites: Node.js

1. Install dependencies: npm install
2. Run the app: npm run dev

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Terminal (Integrated & Sandboxed)

The IDE provides a simulated integrated terminal (Workspace mode) and a remote WebSocket-backed terminal for advanced/real execution. Basic supported commands are handled inside the IDE and update the file explorer in real time.

Supported (simulated) commands:

• clear, ls, pwd, mkdir, touch, cd, cat, rm
• node <file.js> (runs JS in-page), python <file.py> (via Pyodide if available)
• npm install <pkg> (simulated, updates package.json), npx create vite@latest <name> (scaffolds a project)
• pip install <pkg> (simulated, appends to requirements.txt)

How it works:

• When using the Workspace terminal, commands are simulated and routed to the in-memory VFS; file operations update the explorer immediately.
• If no workspace handler is present, the terminal will connect to the backend at the same origin (e.g. ws://<host>/ws/pty) and forward commands to a backend shell (be careful—server shell execution is not sandboxed and should be replaced with a safe sandbox for production use).

Tip: For a faster and more interactive frontend terminal experience, the UI uses react-console-emulator. You can add and extend commands in components/Terminal.tsx.

Docker-backed sandbox terminal

You can run real npm, npx, pnpm and pip commands inside a container that is mounted to the workspace and connected to the IDE terminal via WebSocket.

Prerequisites: Docker installed and running on the host machine.

1. Start the app in development (single command starts the server and Vite dev middleware on the same port — default 3000):

   npm install
   npm run dev

   This runs the backend Express server which mounts Vite's dev middleware so both client and server are served from the same origin. Docker is optional: if Docker is available, the server can still spawn container sessions, otherwise it falls back to the local shell (not sandboxed).

Open the IDE and open the terminal — it will connect to /ws/pty on the same origin and spawn a container or local shell for the session. The container (if used) mounts the project folder at /workspace, so running npm install or pip install from the terminal will affect the workspace in the container (and any changes will be reflected in the IDE's file tree.

Notes:

• By default node_modules is hidden in the explorer to avoid slowing down the UI; toggle visibility using the package icon in the Explorer header.
• The server will attempt to install python3 and python3-pip inside the container at startup for convenience, and for Node images it will try to enable corepack and install pnpm/yarn if missing. This may take a few seconds the first time you spawn a container.
• Use the tools command in the terminal (or it runs automatically on connect) to list detected versions of node, npm, npx, pnpm, yarn, python, and pip from the server session.
• The backend exposes session management endpoints for diagnostics:
  • GET /sessions — lists current container sessions (id, image, createdAt, lastActivity)
  • POST /sessions/:id/kill — force-kills a session container
• This PoC is intended for local/self-hosted use. If you expose the server remotely, add authentication and resource limits before allowing untrusted users to spawn containers.

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Open Source

DevForge Studio is now open source! We believe in the power of community and collaboration. Feel free to contribute, report issues, or suggest new features.