How IDE extensions work in workspaces

IDE extensions in in OpenShift Dev Spaces workspaces use an Open VSX registry instance that controls which extensions are available, trusted, and pre-installed. Extension management supports air-gapped environments, security policies, and consistent tooling.

To manage extensions, this IDE uses one of the Open VSX registry instances:

• The embedded instance of the Open VSX registry that runs in the plugin-registry pod of OpenShift Dev Spaces to support air-gapped, offline, and proxy-restricted environments. The embedded Open VSX registry contains only a subset of the extensions published on the public open-vsx.org registry. This subset is customizable.
• The public open-vsx.org registry that is accessed over the internet.
• A standalone Open VSX registry instance that is deployed on a network accessible from OpenShift Dev Spaces workspace pods.

The default is the embedded instance of the Open VSX registry. For more information about the Open VSX registry and managing extensions in your workspaces, see Additional resources.