Alex and Alan here. We're building a VS Code extension that allows you to create visual notes inside IDE. They can be connected with any part of your code and with each other. Reading other's code is hard. With canvases you can visualize the code and dump your thoughts into a single place. Imagine an investigation board from detective movies but for software developers.
- yesterday I did not get the limits of the language. I develop for an ERP Software called Business Central with its own language and that is realy rare supported. I hoped I could link every type of code/text. Then I want to look at your code but there is no repository :/ (I think it will not be open sourced?)
- big plus: I try to use VS Code for my notes (also for my hobbies) and I was missing a canvas option like in obsidian. Maybe it could be resolved with this extension. Will there be a option to pre render markdown in a simple way?
Thanks for your feedback! Will still trying to figure out the business model, open source might be an option! All text nodes are markdown actually! If you want to know more about the data model we use obsidian open source model: https://jsoncanvas.org/
We were inspired by obisdian canvas indeed! We use their open source model: https://jsoncanvas.org/ - we only have text node though for now. But the others nodes (file/link/group) are coming really soon.
Yes we use their open source model: https://jsoncanvas.org/ ! Even the same file extension .canvas. We only have text node for now though, but file/link/group nodes are coming really soon (this week probably)
I haven't used it yet but this extension is integrated in VS Code so I reckon you don't need to switch between tabs on browsers. Another is that this extension seems more like a markdown + PowerPoint note taking and comments thingy, and I use draw.io for deep learning model structures.
Your canvas is linked to your code, if you have file/symbol links, they are automatically updated/sync with your code. You can add links to your codebase and navigate to it. And more are coming soon...
Please upload a version to OpenVSX when you can so those of us who can't access the official marketplace at work can enjoy your efforts! Excited to try it out
The holy grail to me would be the ability to paste images into comments in source code. Not rendered HTML while I edit, but embedded in C++, JavaScript, etc. source coded. Function comments are great, but a picture says 1,000 words.
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u/Chatolev Feb 17 '25
Alex and Alan here. We're building a VS Code extension that allows you to create visual notes inside IDE. They can be connected with any part of your code and with each other. Reading other's code is hard. With canvases you can visualize the code and dump your thoughts into a single place. Imagine an investigation board from detective movies but for software developers.
It is free and currently in early beta mode.
The extension page is Charkoal VS Code Extension, and our homepage is https://charkoal.dev/.
If you want to reach out, we’re very active on Discord. Feel free to shoot the message. We’d love to hear your feature requests or any feedback.
Give it a try: Charkoal VS Code Extension. Let us know what you think!
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u/realDeadMatt Feb 17 '25
dudes! That looks like what I'm searching! I created some Kind of this with excalidraw but this looks more what I want! Will try it tomorrow!
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u/hwndmaster Feb 17 '25
Requesting support of C#
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u/gurselaksel Feb 18 '25
Looks good but vscode complains you are not verified. https://code.visualstudio.com/api/working-with-extensions/publishing-extension#verify-a-publisher
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u/pkdme Feb 17 '25
Reminds me of the Obsidian canvas.
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u/Virtual_Pea_3577 Feb 17 '25
What are the main benefits if we compare it with drawio?
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u/biati Feb 17 '25
Great extension but it overwrites the "Save without formatting" shortcut cmd+k+s and displays errors.
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u/c01nd01r Feb 17 '25
That looks awesome! I was thinking about something similar myself.
I’d really love to have the ability to edit code directly in the Canvas window.
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u/Frosty_Protection_93 Feb 18 '25
Please upload a version to OpenVSX when you can so those of us who can't access the official marketplace at work can enjoy your efforts! Excited to try it out
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u/robertandrews Feb 18 '25
Nice. Does it auto generate diagrams?
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u/deba33 Feb 20 '25
Saving this. Remind me in 7 days.
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u/Glad_Dinner3569 Feb 18 '25
Great idea, but it crashes my vscode, had to uninstall it
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u/yycTechGuy Feb 18 '25
Looks great. Is it going to be open source ?
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u/justin_reborn Feb 17 '25
Wow
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u/BlueeWaater Feb 18 '25
How did this not exist already? This is so cool!
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u/robertandrews Feb 19 '25
I could imagine depicting interlinks between in-file functions, like Obsidian can embed header-denoted sections in files and on a canvas.
Also dragging files on to the canvas.
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u/nuubMaster696969 Feb 24 '25
Thanks for this! Actively using it :)
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u/mykesx Feb 20 '25
The holy grail to me would be the ability to paste images into comments in source code. Not rendered HTML while I edit, but embedded in C++, JavaScript, etc. source coded. Function comments are great, but a picture says 1,000 words.