Dev Servers

SnakeFlow can manage any number of dev servers — Next.js, Vite, FastAPI, Django, Rails, Go, Rust, PHP — any runtime, any command.

Each server runs in a named VS Code terminal and is monitored via TCP port check + terminal presence. Status is visible in the sidebar and status bar in real time.

Server Configuration

Add servers to .vscode/settings.json:

"devManager.project.servers": [
  {
    "id": "web",
    "label": "Frontend",
    "command": "npm run dev",
    "path": "",
    "port": 3000
  },
  {
    "id": "api",
    "label": "API Server",
    "command": "python manage.py runserver 8000",
    "path": "backend",
    "port": 8000
  }
]

Server Fields

Field	Required	Description
id	✅	Unique identifier — used as terminal name prefix
label	✅	Display name in sidebar and status bar
command	✅	Shell command to start the server
path	—	Relative working directory from project root ("" = root)
port	—	TCP port to monitor for live status (0 = no monitoring)

Commands

Action	Keybinding	Menu
Start all servers	Ctrl+M S	Main menu → Start Servers
Stop all servers	Ctrl+M Q	Main menu → Stop Servers
Restart all servers	Ctrl+M R	Main menu → Restart Servers
Start/stop individual	—	Sidebar → click server

Examples

Single-app (Node.js)

[
  { "id": "web", "label": "Dev Server", "command": "npm run dev", "path": "", "port": 3000 }
]

Monorepo (Turborepo / pnpm)

[
  { "id": "web",     "label": "Frontend", "command": "pnpm run dev", "path": "apps/web",  "port": 5173 },
  { "id": "api",     "label": "API",      "command": "pnpm run dev", "path": "apps/api",  "port": 8787 },
  { "id": "inngest", "label": "Inngest",  "command": "pnpm dlx inngest-cli@latest dev", "path": "apps/web", "port": 8288 }
]

Python + React

[
  { "id": "frontend", "label": "React",         "command": "npm run dev",                      "path": "frontend", "port": 3000 },
  { "id": "backend",  "label": "Django",        "command": "python manage.py runserver 8000",  "path": "backend",  "port": 8000 },
  { "id": "celery",   "label": "Celery Worker", "command": "celery -A config worker -l info",  "path": "backend",  "port": 0    }
]

Go microservices

[
  { "id": "gateway", "label": "API Gateway", "command": "go run ./cmd/gateway", "path": "services/gateway", "port": 8080 },
  { "id": "auth",    "label": "Auth",        "command": "go run ./cmd/auth",    "path": "services/auth",    "port": 8081 }
]

Root proxy pattern

If your root package.json has a proxy script like "dev": "npm run dev --prefix application", set "path": "" (root), not "application". The proxy runs from the root — pointing to the subdirectory would bypass it.

Status Monitoring

Server status is shown in:

• Sidebar — colored icon next to each server name
• Status bar — per-server indicator at the bottom of the IDE

Status uses a combined check: TCP port open AND the terminal is still running. This avoids false positives from external processes using the same port.

Status	Meaning
🟢 Running	Port is open and terminal is alive
🔴 Stopped	Port is closed or terminal was closed
⚪ No port	Server has port: 0 — terminal presence only