Deploy Open VSX from a Che workspace

Deploy an on-premises Open VSX extension registry by using predefined devfile tasks in a Che workspace. The workspace environment includes all necessary tools and commands defined in the .devfile.yaml file of the Open VSX repository.

Prerequisites

  • You are logged in to the cluster as a cluster administrator.

  • You have a running Che instance.

Procedure

  1. Start a workspace by using the Eclipse Open VSX repository.

    The .devfile.yaml includes an elasticsearch component that does not support IBM Power (ppc64le) or IBM Z (s390x) architectures. To start the workspace on these architectures, remove the elasticsearch component from the devfile. Alternatively, use the Deploy Open VSX from source procedure to deploy Open VSX without starting a workspace.

    The environment, including all necessary commands, is defined in the .devfile.yaml file.

  2. Create a new project for Open VSX.

    Run the 2.1. Create Namespace for OpenVSX task in the workspace:

    Terminal → Run Task…​ → devfile → 2.1. Create Namespace for OpenVSX

    This creates a new project named openvsx on the cluster.

  3. Build and publish the Open VSX server image.

    Run the 2.2. Build and Publish Open VSX Image task in the workspace:

    Terminal → Run Task…​ → devfile → 2.2. Build and Publish OpenVSX Image

    During execution, the task prompts you to enter the Open VSX server version. If left blank, the task uses a default version.

    Available Open VSX server versions are listed on the Open VSX releases page.

  4. Build and publish the Open VSX CLI (ovsx) image.

    Run the 2.3. Build and Publish OpenVSX CLI Image task in the workspace:

    Terminal → Run Task…​ → devfile → 2.3. Build and Publish OpenVSX CLI Image

  5. Deploy Open VSX.

    Run the 2.4. Deploy OpenVSX task in the workspace:

    Terminal → Run Task…​ → devfile → 2.4. Deploy OpenVSX

    This task processes the openvsx-deployment.yml template and creates all required resources, including:

    • Deployments for PostgreSQL, Elasticsearch, the Open VSX server, and the Open VSX CLI

    • Services and routes for accessing components

    • Secrets for GitHub OAuth credentials and the Open VSX Personal Access Token (PAT)

      All deployment parameters are described in the deploy/openshift/openvsx-deployment.yml file. The template includes default values such as OVSX_PAT_BASE64.

  6. Add an Open VSX user with a PAT to the database.

    Run the 2.5. Add OpenVSX user with PAT to the DB task in the workspace:

    Terminal → Run Task…​ → devfile → 2.5. Add OpenVSX user with PAT to the DB

    The task prompts you for the Open VSX username and user PAT. Press Enter to use the default values.

    The user PAT must match the decoded value of OVSX_PAT_BASE64 specified in the deployment file. If you update OVSX_PAT_BASE64, use the new decoded value as the user PAT.

  7. Configure Che to use the internal Open VSX registry.

    Run the 2.6. Configure Che to use the internal Open VSX registry task in the workspace:

    Terminal → Run Task…​ → devfile → 2.6. Configure Che to use the internal OpenVSX registry

    This task patches the CheCluster custom resource to use the deployed Open VSX registry URL.

  8. Publish a Visual Studio Code extension from a .vsix file.

    Run the 2.8. Publish a Visual Studio Code Extension from a VSIX file task in the workspace:

    Terminal → Run Task…​ → devfile → 2.8. Publish a Visual Studio Code Extension from a VSIX file

    The task prompts you to provide the extension publisher name and the path to the .vsix file.

  9. Optional: Publish a predefined list of extensions.

    Update the deploy/openshift/extensions.txt file with the download URLs of each .vsix file, then run the 2.9. Publish list of Visual Studio Code Extensions task:

    Terminal → Run Task…​ → devfile → 2.9. Publish list of Visual Studio Code Extensions

Verification

  • Start any workspace and verify the published extensions are available in the Extensions view of the workspace IDE.

  • Open the internal route in the openvsx project to verify the registry UI displays the published extensions.

Next steps
Additional resources