# RFC For a VSCode PDE

**URL:** <https://discourse.processing.org/t/rfc-for-a-vscode-pde/48779>\
**Category:** Development\
**Tags:** dev-update, rfc\
**Created:** [June 8, 2026, 10:14pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/rfc-for-a-vscode-pde/48779 "2026-06-08T22:14:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 6

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**Author:** ![glv](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.processing.org/glv/32/18785_2.png) [@glv](https://discourse.processing.org/u/glv)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2026, 2:46am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/rfc-for-a-vscode-pde/48779/6 "2026-06-22T02:46:55Z")

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Hello @moon,

I fully support the **Enhancement details** in the RFC.

It is my understanding that the RFC prototype is a fork of the open‑source VS Code codebase combined with the Processing core, Java and App with the potential for better future integration with a modular approach.

I would also like to see the decoupling of the CLI so that it can easily be integrated with other code editors of my choice.

The RFC states:

> The Processing CLI currently requires the whole PDE to already be installed on the user’s computer, so we’ll want to work toward making the CLI standalone to remove the dependency on the current PDE implementation.

_[processing4/BUILD.md at main · processing/processing4 · GitHub](https://github.com/processing/processing4/blob/main/BUILD.md)_  
states:

> Processing consists of three main components: `Core`, `Java`, and `App`. The `Core` is independent, while `Java` and `App` depend on it. Currently, `Java` and `App` are interdependent, but efforts are underway to decouple them.

> [@Processing 4 processing-java binary?](https://discourse.processing.org/t/processing-4-processing-java-binary/47498/3):
>
> Hi @SNitaine! We’ve been hard at work trying to decouple Processing core from the editor and make everything a bit more modular. As of now that work is not yet ready though! So far we have the following: We have core [published to maven central](https://central.sonatype.com/artifact/org.processing/core) as a standard Java library. We have the [Visual Studio Code plugin](http://vscode.processing.org) As for distributing processing-java as a standalone, if you look under the hood of that binary you will see that is just a wrapper around running the PDE binary with some extra arguments…

Google Gemini interaction:

> If the Processing core and CLI are isolated into separate, downloadable modules under the LGPL (or a similarly structured copyleft license), a VS Code fork released under a permissive license (like MIT) can pull them in dynamically without triggering license contamination.
> 
> As long as the VSCode fork interacts with the core/CLI via a clean separation, such as standard CLI process calls, IPC, or dynamic linking, the permissive editor code and the copyleft processing runtime remain legally distinct.

Go for it!

References:  
_[Visual Studio Code - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_Studio_Code)_

`:)`

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