SnakeFlow: I Built a VS Code Extension That Manages My Entire Dev Environment from One Sidebar

#vscode #opensource #devtools #productivity

Every time I started a new project, I'd end up with the same mess: four terminal tabs open (one for the dev server, one for Docker, one for DB migrations, one for random commands), a browser window for GitHub PRs, and a bunch of scattered CLI commands I had to look up every time.

I got tired of it. So I built SnakeFlow — a free, open source VS Code/Cursor extension that puts all of that in one sidebar panel.

What it actually does

Here's a quick walkthrough of the main features:

Dev Server Management

Whatever stack you use — Node.js, Python, Go, Rust, PHP, Ruby, Java, .NET — you can start, stop, and restart your dev server directly from the sidebar. No terminal needed.

Docker Compose Control

# Instead of typing this every time:
docker compose up -d
docker compose logs -f
docker compose down

# You just click buttons in the sidebar

Up, down, restart, and view logs — all without leaving VS Code.

Database & ORM Tools

SnakeFlow supports a wide range of ORMs and migration tools out of the box:

Prisma — generate, migrate, studio
Drizzle — push, generate
Alembic / Django ORM — for Python projects
Diesel — for Rust
EF Core — for .NET
Rails / Flyway — for Ruby and JVM projects

Quality Hub — 60+ Code Quality Checks

This is the part I'm most excited about. The Quality Hub runs checks across several categories:

Secret leak detection     → catches API keys, tokens in your code
Complexity analysis       → flags overly complex functions
Test ratio               → shows test coverage trends
Security scans           → Trivy, Bandit, Semgrep, ESLint Security

It also integrates with cloud platforms: SonarCloud, Snyk, CodeClimate, CodeRabbit, DeepSource, Codacy, and 15+ more — all aggregated in one view.

GitHub PRs + Issues

View open PRs, create new ones, leave comments — without opening a browser tab.

Build Pipeline

Run lint, typecheck, tests, and build as a full pipeline with a clear pass/fail summary. Great for a quick sanity check before pushing.

Ctrl+M M Quick Menu

Hit Ctrl+M M anywhere and get instant access to everything. It's a small thing but saves a surprising amount of time.

Who is it for?

Honestly, anyone who builds software. But especially:

Developers who work across multiple stacks
Teams using monorepos (SnakeFlow is monorepo-aware)
"Vibe coders" who build fast with AI and want quality checks without setting up a full CI pipeline just to see if their code has issues