Unified sidebar
Remote services in one operational view
Groups lifecycle options, active or connected sessions, and all configured pipes in a VS Code tree with a visible runtime indicator.
Remote compute developer tooling ← Software
Pipe Explorer
A VS Code extension that turns recurring remote-compute and long-running service commands into named, observable, and reusable workflows—without hiding the terminals or credentials operators already trust.
Explicit pipe lifecycle
Keep configuration, execution, and state aligned
01
ConfigureGuided fields or a complete custom command
validated 02
ResolveSSH alias, optional secret, tunnel target, and available port
explicit 03
LaunchUser-visible service and tunnel terminals
running 04
SynchronizeTerminal closure returns stored status to idle
observable 3Supported pipe types
2Setup modes
9Registered commands
v1Versioned export contract
Extension capabilities
Turn command-line knowledge into a repeatable operator workflow
Pipe Explorer keeps infrastructure-specific choices visible while reducing the friction of recreating sessions, tunnels, and service commands.
Slurm + Jupyter
Make the tunnel target explicit
Captures gateway host, partition, GPU count, job time, compute-node target, remote port, local port, environment setup, and optional SSH tunneling.
Service providers
Structured or custom execution
Supports guided Slurm/Jupyter and TensorFlow service setup alongside a one-step custom command path for established team workflows.
SSH discovery
Reuse the operator’s existing configuration
Discovers concrete host aliases from the default or configured SSH config, while retaining manual and local execution options.
Secret handling
Store references, not secret values
Keeps secret material in VS Code SecretStorage, resolves it only at runtime, and deliberately omits secret values from exported pipe definitions.
Portable configuration
Version, validate, import, export
Uses a versioned JSON contract, validates supported pipe types, sanitizes bounded values, merges imported definitions, and resets imported runtime state to idle.
Operator loop
The convenience of a control surface, the clarity of a terminal
01
Define
Name a pipe and capture only the fields its provider needs.
02
Start
Build commands and launch explicit terminals under user authority.
03
Observe
See active sessions and runtime state from the editor sidebar.
04
Close
Dispose owned terminals and return the saved definition to idle.
Engineering signals
What the implementation demonstrates
Developer-experience design for remote infrastructure, secure editor storage, runtime reconciliation, provider abstractions, and defensive configuration parsing.
Execution stays explicit
Commands run in user-visible VS Code terminals. The extension creates and owns terminal sessions, reports concise errors, and does not hide execution behind an opaque remote service.
Configuration and runtime state are separated
Non-secret definitions persist in VS Code global state, secret values remain in SecretStorage, and active terminal ownership determines the current lifecycle status.
Provider logic is replaceable
Slurm/Jupyter, TensorFlow, and custom providers build commands behind a shared abstraction while lifecycle orchestration remains centralized.
Failure paths are designed into the workflow
Input validation, import schema checks, safe defaults, busy-port detection, terminal-close synchronization, a dedicated output channel, and user notifications keep state understandable.
Selected stack
Editor-native orchestration for existing compute infrastructure
VS Code Extension APITypeScriptNode.jsTerminal APISSH configSecretStorageVS Code globalStateVersioned JSONSlurmJupyterTensorFlow servicesCustom commands
Make remote workflows easier to operate—and easier to understand
Explore Pipe Explorer’s source or reach out about developer experience, research infrastructure, and remote-compute tooling.