SideX

VSCode's workbench, without Electron.

Why · What's Working · Getting Started · How It's Built · Contributing · Discord

SideX is a port of Visual Studio Code that replaces Electron with Tauri — a Rust backend and OS's native webview. The same TypeScript workbench, the same editor, terminal, and Git integration, running without a bundled browser.

Early release. Core editing and the terminal are solid. The extension host and debugger are still in progress. See What's Working for the full picture.

Why

VSCode's memory useage is almost entirely from its bundled Chromium, not the editor itself. Tauri replaces that with the webview already on your system — WKWebView on macOS, WebView2 on Windows — shared across apps and costing almost nothing extra.

RAM savings are most tested on macOS, WKWebView is shared with Safari. On Windows the picture is more nuanced — WebView2 memory can look higher depending on how it's measured, and it's an active area in the Tauri ecosystem. The target is under 200 MB at idle on macOS. We'll publish real benchmarks once the app is stable enough for them to be meaningful.

What's Working

Solid:

• Monaco editor with syntax highlighting and basic IntelliSense
• File explorer — open folders, create, rename, delete
• Integrated terminal — full PTY via Rust, shell detection, resize, signals
• Git — status, diff, log, stage, commit, branch, push/pull/fetch, stash, reset
• Themes — multiple built-in themes from the VSCode catalogue
• Native OS menus (macOS, Windows, Linux)
• Extension installation from Open VSX
• File watching, file search, full-text search, Rust-backed search index
• SQLite storage, document management (autosave, undo/redo, encoding)

Getting Started

Run in Development

git clone https://github.com/Sidenai/sidex.git
cd sidex
npm install
npm run tauri dev

Build from Source

npm install

# macOS / Linux
NODE_OPTIONS="--max-old-space-size=12288" npm run build

# Windows (PowerShell)
$env:NODE_OPTIONS="--max-old-space-size=12288"
npm run build

npx tauri build

First build takes 5–10 minutes (Rust compile time). Pre-built binaries are not distributed yet.

How It's Built

SideX maps VSCode's Electron architecture onto Tauri layer by layer:

The TypeScript frontend is a direct port of VSCode's workbench. The Rust backend is in src-tauri/src/commands/ and handles everything that would have been a Node.js native module: file I/O, terminal PTY, Git, file watching, search indexing, SQLite, and process management.

Project Layout

sidex/
├── src/                    # TypeScript workbench (ported from VSCode)
│   └── vs/
│       ├── base/           # Core utilities
│       ├── platform/       # Platform services and dependency injection
│       ├── editor/         # Monaco editor
│       └── workbench/      # IDE shell, panels, features, contributions
├── src-tauri/              # Rust backend
│   └── src/
│       ├── commands/       # fs, terminal, git, search, debug, etc.
│       ├── lib.rs          # App setup and command registration
│       └── main.rs         # Entry point
├── index.html
├── vite.config.ts
└── package.json

Tech Stack

For a deeper dive, see ARCHITECTURE.md

Contributing

This was released early to get outside contributors involved.

How to Contribute

1. Fork the repo and create a branch
2. Pick something — check Issues or grab something from the Known Gaps list above
3. Submit a PR — contributors get credited

Dev Notes

• Follows VSCode's patterns — familiar if you've read the VSCode source
• TypeScript imports use .js extensions (ES module convention)
• Services use VSCode's @inject dependency injection decorators
• New Rust commands go in src-tauri/src/commands/ and register in lib.rs

Community

• Discord: Join the SideX server
• X / Twitter: @ImRazshy
• Email: kendall@siden.ai

License

MIT — SideX is a port of Visual Studio Code (Code - OSS), which is also MIT licensed. See LICENSE for details.