avr code

Opens the current project in VS Code, attached to its Linux environment, so the editor’s terminal, extensions and language servers run in Linux. avr cursor and avr zed do the same for Cursor and Zed.

1. Help
2. Examples
3. What it does
   1. SSH configuration on macOS
   2. Idle auto-stop while the editor is open
4. Exit status
5. Errors
   1. code is not on your PATH
   2. takes no arguments
   3. the launcher failed

Help

This is exactly what avr help code or avr code --help prints.

Usage:
  avr [selector flags] code

Open the current project in VS Code attached to its Linux environment: over Remote-SSH on macOS, through VS Code's WSL integration on Windows. Needs the `code` command on your PATH.

Selector flags such as --arch and --distro must come before the command; run `avr --help` to see them.

Examples

avr code                     # this project, in its usual environment
avr --distro fedora code     # this project, in Fedora
avr --isolate code           # this project's own environment
avr --native-fs code         # Windows: the Linux-native copy of the project

What it does

1. Looks for the code command on your PATH, before anything slow, so a missing launcher is reported at once rather than after provisioning.
2. Resolves the environment from the selector flags and .avr.toml, asks about any unapproved packages or variables in .avr.toml, then creates or starts the environment and shares the project into it, exactly as avr does.
3. Restarts the environment’s idle clock, so that idle auto-stop gives VS Code a full timeout to connect (see below).
4. Opens VS Code on the current directory inside Linux, and prints avr: opened <project> in VS Code on <environment>.

How VS Code reaches the environment depends on the host:

avar does not check that the extension is installed. Without it, VS Code opens but cannot connect.

SSH configuration on macOS

avar writes the connection details for each environment to its own file, ~/.avr/ssh/config, and never edits entries of yours. For VS Code to find them, your ~/.ssh/config has to include that file. The first time it does not, avar asks:

avr: VS Code finds hosts through ~/.ssh/config, which does not yet include avar's.
     avar would add one line to the top of it and change nothing else:

       Include ~/.avr/ssh/config

Only y or yes adds the line, with a comment saying avar added it and how to remove it. Declining is not a failure: VS Code still opens, and avar prints the line to add yourself. Without a terminal avar does not ask, and prints the line instead. When an environment is destroyed or reset, avar removes its entry from its own file.

The paths above are the macOS defaults; avar shows the real paths it uses.

Idle auto-stop while the editor is open

avr code launches VS Code and exits, so no avr session stays open while you work in the editor. The idle check looks inside an environment before stopping it, and leaves it running while a VS Code, Cursor or Zed window is connected to it. What it looks for is the process each window has inside Linux: VS Code’s and Cursor’s remote extension host, or Zed’s remote proxy. The editor’s remote server on its own does not count, because it keeps running for a few minutes after the last window closes.

• Closing the window lets the environment stop once the idle timeout has passed since the check that last saw it.
• A window whose connection dropped without closing, for example when a laptop lid closes, keeps VS Code’s extension host alive for up to three hours so it can reconnect. The environment stays running for that time too.
• If avar cannot look inside the environment, it leaves it running and tries again at the next check.

Exit status

Errors

code is not on your PATH

avr: the `code` command was not found on your PATH (<cause>). Open VS Code, press Cmd+Shift+P and run "Shell Command: Install 'code' command in PATH"

The hint differs by host. On Windows, re-run the VS Code installer with its “Add to PATH” option. No environment is started. Exit status 1.

takes no arguments

avr: `avr code` takes no arguments, but got "<args>"; it opens the current project in VS Code attached to the target Linux environment

avr code always opens the current directory. Selector flags go before code. Exit status 2.

the launcher failed

avr: launch VS Code with `code <arguments>`: <exit status>

The launcher’s own error output is shown above it. Exit status 1.