Grove 🌳

The Native Rust/WebAssembly Extension Host for Land 🏞️

VS Code extensions run with full Node.js capabilities in a shared process. A malicious or buggy extension can access any file, make any network request, and read another extension's state. The extension sandbox is a policy document, not a technical boundary.

"An extension can only touch what you explicitly grant. The sandbox is enforced by the hardware, not a policy."

Rust API Documentation 📖

Overview

Grove 🌳 is the high-performance Rust/WebAssembly extension host for the Land 🏞️ Code Editor. It complements Cocoon 🦋 (Node.js) by providing a native environment for running Rust and WASM-compiled VS Code extensions. Grove offers secure sandboxing through WASMtime, multiple transport strategies (gRPC, IPC, WASM), and full compatibility with the VS Code API surface.

VS Code extensions run with full Node.js capabilities in a shared process - a malicious or buggy extension can access any file, make any network request, and read another extension's state. Grove solves this by enforcing sandboxing at the hardware level: an extension can only touch what you explicitly grant.

Grove is engineered to:

Provide Native Extension Hosting - Execute Rust extensions with zero overhead through static linking or WASM sandboxing.
Enable Secure Sandboxing - Isolate untrusted extensions using WASMtime's capability-based security model with configurable memory limits and resource controls.
Support Multiple Transports - Communicate with Mountain ⛰️ via gRPC, IPC, or direct WASM host function calls for flexible deployment.
Maintain Cocoon Compatibility - Share the same VS Code API surface and activation semantics for seamless extension porting between the Node.js and native hosting environments.

Key Features 🔐

WASM Runtime Integration - Full WebAssembly support through WASMtime, with capability-based security, configurable memory limits, WASMtime fuel metering to bound execution time, and explicit host-function grants. Extensions are sandboxed at the hardware level.

Multiple Transport Strategies - A strategy-pattern transport layer supporting gRPC (to Mountain ⛰️'s Vine 🌿 server on port 50051), IPC (Unix socket for local communication), WASM (direct host function calls), and Mist 🌫️ (message-bus integration with the Mist pub/sub system, behind the websocket Cargo feature).

Standalone Operation - Can run as an independent process with its own lifecycle, or connect to Mountain ⛰️ via gRPC for distributed deployment. The Transport/CommonAdapter unifies all transport backends behind a single interface.

Cross-Platform - Native support for macOS, Linux, and Windows with platform-specific optimizations. The Binary/Main/ entry point handles platform signal handling and daemon initialization.

VS Code API Compatibility - Implements vscode.d.ts type definitions through the APIBridge facade, with API/VSCode/ providing typed wrappers for the full VS Code extension API surface including commands, windows, and notifications.

Secure by Default - #![deny(unsafe_code)] at the crate level, WASMtime capability-based isolation, configurable memory limits per extension, and explicit host-function grants ensure no extension can escape its sandbox.

Core Architecture Principles 🏗️

Principle	Description	Key Components
Security First	Isolate extensions via `WASMtime`'s capability model with configurable resource limits. Unsafe code is denied at the crate level.	`WASM/Runtime`, `WASM/MemoryManager`, `WASM/HostBridge`
Transport Agnosticism	Multiple communication strategies behind a unified `Transport/Strategy` trait so deployment choice is a config flag, not a code change.	`Transport/Strategy`, `Transport/CommonAdapter`, `Transport/gRPCTransport`, `Transport/IPCTransport`, `Transport/WASMTransport`, `Transport/MistTransport`
API Surface Parity	Implement the full VS Code extension API (`vscode.d.ts`) so extensions port seamlessly between `Cocoon` 🦋 and `Grove` 🌳.	`API/VSCode`, `API/Types`, `Host/APIBridge`, `Host/Activation`
Composability	Modular separation of host core, `WASM` runtime, transport layer, and protocol handling. Each module can be compiled and tested independently.	`Host/`, `WASM/`, `Transport/`, `Protocol/`, `API/*`

System Architecture

graph LR
    classDef grove    fill:#d0d8ff,stroke:#4a6fa5,stroke-width:2px,color:#001050;
    classDef mountain fill:#f0d0ff,stroke:#9b59b6,stroke-width:2px,color:#2c0050;
    classDef wasm     fill:#d4f5d4,stroke:#27ae60,stroke-width:2px,color:#0a3a0a;
    classDef transport fill:#fff3c0,stroke:#f39c12,stroke-width:1px,stroke-dasharray:5 5,color:#5a3e00;
    classDef cocoon   fill:#cce8ff,stroke:#2980b9,stroke-width:1px,stroke-dasharray:5 5,color:#003050;

    subgraph GROVE["Grove 🌳 - Rust/WASM Extension Host"]
        direction TB
        subgraph HOST["Host/ - Extension Lifecycle"]
            ExtHost["ExtensionHost.rs 🏡 main controller"]:::grove
            ExtMgr["ExtensionManager.rs 🔍 discovery + loading"]:::grove
            Activation["Activation/ ⚡ activation events"]:::grove
            Lifecycle["Lifecycle.rs"]:::grove
            APIBridge["APIBridge.rs 🌉 vscode.d.ts facade"]:::grove
            ExtHost --> ExtMgr --> Activation --> Lifecycle
            Activation --> APIBridge
        end
        subgraph API["API/ - VS Code API Surface"]
            VSCode["VSCode/ 📋 typed API wrappers"]:::grove
            Types["Types.rs 🧱 shared type definitions"]:::grove
            APIBridge --> VSCode --> Types
        end
        subgraph WASM_RT["WASM/ - WASMtime Runtime"]
            WASMRuntime["Runtime/ 🚀 WASMtime engine + store"]:::wasm
            ModLoader["ModuleLoader/ 📦 compile + instantiate"]:::wasm
            MemMgr["MemoryManager/ 📏 allocation + limits"]:::wasm
            HostBridge["HostBridge/ 🔗 host↔WASM calls"]:::wasm
            WASMRuntime --> ModLoader
            ModLoader --> MemMgr
            WASMRuntime --> HostBridge
        end
        subgraph TRANSPORT["Transport/ - Strategy Pattern"]
            Strategy["Strategy.rs - trait"]:::transport
            CommonAdapter["CommonAdapter.rs 🔌 unified backend"]:::transport
            gRPC["gRPCTransport.rs"]:::transport
            IPC["IPCTransport.rs"]:::transport
            WASMTrans["WASMTransport.rs"]:::transport
            MistTrans["MistTransport.rs 💬 pub/sub bus"]:::transport
            Strategy --- CommonAdapter
            CommonAdapter --- gRPC
            CommonAdapter --- IPC
            CommonAdapter --- WASMTrans
            CommonAdapter --- MistTrans
        end
        subgraph PROTO["Protocol/"]
            SpineConn["SpineConnection.rs 🦴 Spine protocol"]:::grove
            SpineAction["SpineActionClient/ 🎬 action dispatch"]:::grove
            SpineConn --> SpineAction
        end

        APIBridge --> WASMRuntime
        HostBridge --> Strategy
        SpineConn --> gRPC
    end

    subgraph MOUNTAIN["Mountain ⛰️"]
        VineGRPC["Vine gRPC Server 🌿"]:::mountain
    end

    subgraph COCOON["Cocoon 🦋 complementary host"]
        CocoonRef["Node.js extension host same vscode API surface"]:::cocoon
    end

    gRPC -- gRPC :50051 --> VineGRPC
    IPC -- Unix socket --> VineGRPC
    MistTrans -. message bus, websocket feature .-> VineGRPC
    APIBridge -.shares API surface.-> CocoonRef

Connection paths:

Path	Protocol	Use Case
Grove 🌳 → Mountain ⛰️ via `gRPC`	Protobuf over `gRPC` on port 50051	Distributed deployment, remote extensions
Grove → Mountain via `IPC`	Unix domain socket	Local single-machine communication
Grove → Mountain via `Mist` 🌫️	Message-bus pub/sub (`websocket` feature)	Event-driven, decoupled workflows
Grove → Cocoon 🦋	Shared API surface	Extension portability between native and `Node.js` hosts
Extension → `WASMtime`	`WASM` host functions	Sandboxed extension execution
`APIBridge` → `API/VSCode`	Direct call	Typed VS Code API wrappers

Key Components

Component	Path	Description
ExtensionHost	`Source/Host/ExtensionHost.rs`	Main controller (`ExtensionHostImpl`) managing the full extension lifecycle
ExtensionManager	`Source/Host/ExtensionManager.rs`	Extension discovery, validation, and loading
Activation	`Source/Host/Activation/`	Activation events and contribution point handling (`ActivationEngine`, `ActivationEvent`, `ActivationHandler`, `ActivationContext`, `ActivationRecord`, `WildMatch`)
Lifecycle	`Source/Host/Lifecycle.rs`	Extension state machine (install, enable, disable, uninstall)
APIBridge	`Source/Host/APIBridge.rs`	VS Code API facade implementing `vscode.d.ts`
VSCode API	`Source/API/VSCode/`	Typed wrappers for the full VS Code extension API surface (`VSCodeAPI`, `Window`, `Workspace`, `Env`, `CommandNamespace`, `LanguageNamespace`, and more)
API Types	`Source/API/Types.rs`	Shared type definitions for extension API interactions
WASM Runtime	`Source/WASM/Runtime.rs`	`WASMtime` engine and store lifecycle
ModuleLoader	`Source/WASM/ModuleLoader.rs`	`WASM` module compilation and instantiation
MemoryManager	`Source/WASM/MemoryManager.rs`	Configurable memory limits and allocation tracking
HostBridge	`Source/WASM/HostBridge.rs`	Host-to-`WASM` function call dispatch
FunctionExport	`Source/WASM/FunctionExport/`	Export host functions to `WASM` guest modules (`HostFunctionRegistry`, `FunctionExportImpl`, `FunctionStats`)
Transport Strategy	`Source/Transport/Strategy.rs`	Transport strategy trait definition
CommonAdapter	`Source/Transport/CommonAdapter.rs`	Unified transport backend routing
gRPC Transport	`Source/Transport/gRPCTransport.rs`	`gRPC`-based communication with `Mountain`
IPC Transport	`Source/Transport/IPCTransport.rs`	Inter-process communication (Unix socket)
WASM Transport	`Source/Transport/WASMTransport.rs`	Direct `WASM` host-function communication
Mist Transport	`Source/Transport/MistTransport.rs`	Message-bus integration with `Mist` pub/sub (behind the `websocket` Cargo feature)
Spine Connection	`Source/Protocol/SpineConnection.rs`	`Spine` protocol client connection
Spine Action Client	`Source/Protocol/SpineActionClient/`	Action dispatch over `Spine` protocol (`SpineActionClient`, `ReconnectStrategy`, `ConnectionStatus`)
Configuration Service	`Source/Services/ConfigurationService.rs`	Service for managing extension-level configuration
Common Traits	`Source/Common/Traits.rs`	Shared trait definitions for the extension host
Common Error	`Source/Common/Error.rs`	Unified error types for the host layer
Runtime Build	`Source/Binary/Build/RuntimeBuild.rs`	Build-time runtime configuration
Service Register	`Source/Binary/Build/ServiceRegister.rs`	Service registration at build time
Entry	`Source/Binary/Main/Entry.rs`	Platform entry point and daemon initialization

Project Structure 🗺️

Element/Grove/
├── Source/
│   ├── Library.rs                     # Library root (cdylib + rlib)
│   ├── main.rs                        # Binary entry point
│   ├── DevLog.rs                      # Development logging infrastructure
│   ├── API/                           # VS Code API surface
│   │   ├── mod.rs                     # Module re-exports
│   │   ├── Types.rs                   # Shared API type definitions
│   │   └── VSCode/                    # Typed VS Code extension API wrappers
│   │       ├── mod.rs
│   │       ├── VSCodeAPI.rs           # Aggregate API entry point
│   │       ├── Window.rs              # vscode.window namespace
│   │       ├── Workspace.rs           # vscode.workspace namespace
│   │       ├── WorkspaceConfiguration.rs
│   │       ├── CommandNamespace.rs    # vscode.commands namespace
│   │       ├── LanguageNamespace.rs   # vscode.languages namespace
│   │       ├── ExtensionNamespace.rs  # vscode.extensions namespace
│   │       ├── Env.rs                 # vscode.env namespace
│   │       ├── CompletionItemProvider.rs
│   │       ├── DiagnosticCollection.rs
│   │       ├── DocumentSelector.rs
│   │       ├── Disposable.rs
│   │       ├── OutputChannel.rs
│   │       ├── ProviderStore.rs
│   │       └── Tests.rs
│   ├── Binary/                        # Binary initialization
│   │   ├── mod.rs
│   │   ├── Build/                     # Build-time configuration
│   │   │   ├── mod.rs
│   │   │   ├── RuntimeBuild.rs        # Build-time runtime configuration
│   │   │   └── ServiceRegister.rs     # Service registration at build time
│   │   └── Main/                      # Main entry point + platform init
│   │       ├── mod.rs
│   │       └── Entry.rs               # Platform entry point and daemon init
│   ├── Common/                        # Shared traits and error types
│   │   ├── mod.rs
│   │   ├── Traits.rs                  # Core trait definitions
│   │   └── Error.rs                   # Unified error types
│   ├── Host/                          # Extension lifecycle management
│   │   ├── mod.rs
│   │   ├── ExtensionHost.rs           # Main host controller (ExtensionHostImpl)
│   │   ├── ExtensionManager.rs        # Discovery and loading
│   │   ├── Lifecycle.rs               # Lifecycle state machine
│   │   ├── APIBridge.rs               # VS Code API facade
│   │   └── Activation/                # Activation events
│   │       ├── mod.rs
│   │       ├── ActivationEngine.rs    # Activation event dispatcher
│   │       ├── ActivationEvent.rs     # Activation event types
│   │       ├── ActivationHandler.rs   # Per-event activation handlers
│   │       ├── ActivationContext.rs   # Activation context state
│   │       ├── ActivationRecord.rs    # Activation history record
│   │       ├── WildMatch.rs           # Glob-style pattern matching
│   │       └── Tests.rs
│   ├── Services/                      # Extension-level services
│   │   ├── mod.rs
│   │   └── ConfigurationService.rs    # Extension configuration management
│   ├── WASM/                          # WebAssembly runtime integration
│   │   ├── mod.rs
│   │   ├── Runtime.rs                 # WASMtime engine and store
│   │   ├── ModuleLoader.rs            # Module compilation + instantiation
│   │   ├── MemoryManager.rs           # Memory allocation and limits
│   │   ├── HostBridge.rs              # Host-to-WASM function calls
│   │   └── FunctionExport/            # Host function export to WASM
│   │       ├── mod.rs
│   │       ├── Default.rs
│   │       ├── ExportConfig.rs
│   │       ├── FunctionExportImpl.rs
│   │       ├── FunctionStats.rs
│   │       └── HostFunctionRegistry.rs
│   ├── Transport/                     # Communication strategies
│   │   ├── mod.rs
│   │   ├── Strategy.rs                # Transport strategy trait
│   │   ├── CommonAdapter.rs           # Unified transport backend
│   │   ├── TransportConfig.rs         # Shared transport configuration
│   │   ├── TransportFactory.rs        # Transport construction helpers
│   │   ├── gRPCTransport.rs           # gRPC to Mountain
│   │   ├── IPCTransport.rs            # Inter-process (Unix only)
│   │   ├── WASMTransport.rs           # Direct WASM communication
│   │   └── MistTransport.rs           # Mist message-bus integration (behind `websocket` feature)
│   └── Protocol/                      # Protocol handling
│       ├── mod.rs
│       ├── Constants.rs               # Protocol constants
│       ├── MessageType.rs             # Wire message type definitions
│       ├── ProtocolConfig.rs          # Protocol configuration
│       ├── ProtocolError.rs           # Protocol error types
│       ├── SpineConnection.rs         # Spine protocol client
│       ├── SpineActionClient/         # Action dispatch over Spine protocol
│       │   ├── mod.rs
│       │   ├── SpineActionClient.rs
│       │   ├── SpineConfig.rs
│       │   ├── ReconnectStrategy.rs
│       │   ├── ConnectionStatus.rs
│       │   ├── GroveCapabilities.rs
│       │   ├── HostInfo.rs
│       │   ├── calculate_backoff.rs
│       │   └── Tests.rs
│       └── Generated/                 # Code-generated protocol types
│           └── grove.rs               # Generated gRPC service definitions
├── Documentation/
│   └── Rust/
│       └── doc/                       # Cargo doc output
├── Cargo.toml
└── LICENSE

In the Land Project

Grove serves as the native Rust/WASM extension host alongside Cocoon 🦋 (the Node.js host). Together they provide the two execution environments for the Land 🏞️ editor's extension model:

Host	Language	Runtime	Sandboxing
Grove 🌳	`Rust`, `WASM`	`WASMtime`	Hardware-enforced via capability model
Cocoon 🦋	`TypeScript`, `JavaScript`	`Node.js` via `Effect-TS`	Fiber-level process isolation

Grove communicates with Mountain ⛰️ via gRPC (port 50051), IPC (Unix socket), or the Mist 🌫️ message bus for event-driven workflows. It shares the same VS Code API surface as Cocoon, enabling seamless porting of extensions between the Node.js and native hosting environments.

The Transport/CommonAdapter abstracts all communication strategies behind a single interface, allowing deployment flexibility - standalone process, distributed via gRPC, or integrated with Mountain's Vine server.

Getting Started 🚀

Prerequisites

Rust 1.95.0 or later (edition 2024)
Protocol Buffer compiler (optional, for proto file modifications)
For WASM builds: rustup target add wasm32-wasi

Build for Native

cd Element/Grove
cargo build --release

Build for WASM

cd Element/Grove
cargo build --target wasm32-wasi --release

Build with Features

# All features enabled
cargo build --release --features all

# WASM only
cargo build --release --features wasm

# gRPC only
cargo build --release --features grpc

Available Features

Feature	Description
`default`	Enables `grpc` and `wasm`
`grpc`	`gRPC` transport support (`tonic` + `prost`)
`wasm`	`WebAssembly` runtime support (`wasmtime` + `wasmtime-wasi`)
`websocket`	`Mist` pub/sub `WebSocket` transport (`MistTransport`)
`telemetry`	`OpenTelemetry` + `Prometheus` metrics export
`dev`	Enables `telemetry` for local development builds
`debug`	Enables `dev`
`all`	`grpc` + `wasm` + `telemetry`

As a Library

use Grove::{Host::ExtensionHost::ExtensionHostImpl, Transport::Strategy::Transport};

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
    let Host = ExtensionHostImpl::new(Transport::default()).await?;
    let ExtensionId = Host.load_extension(&"/path/to/extension".into()).await?;
    Host.activate(&ExtensionId).await?;
    Ok(())
}

Security 🔒

Grove enforces security at multiple layers:

Layer	Mechanism
Crate level	`#![deny(unsafe_code)]` - no unsafe code permitted
Runtime	`WASMtime` capability-based isolation - each extension gets an independent sandbox
Memory	Configurable per-extension memory limits via `WASM/MemoryManager`
Resources	`WASMtime` fuel metering bounds per-extension execution time (`WASM/Runtime`)
Host functions	Explicit capability grants - extensions must declare required host functions
Type safety	Full `Rust` type system across the host-WASM boundary

Compatibility

Grove is designed to be compatible with:

Target	Integration
Cocoon 🦋	Shares VS Code API surface, activation semantics, and manifest parsing
VS Code	Implements `vscode.d.ts` type definitions
Mountain ⛰️	Integrates via the `GroveService` `gRPC` protocol defined in `Proto/Grove.proto`
Mist 🌫️	Connects via `MistTransport` for event-driven pub/sub workflows

API Reference

Rust API Documentation 📖

License ⚖️

This project is released into the public domain under the Creative Commons CC0 Universal license. You are free to use, modify, distribute, and build upon this work for any purpose, without any restrictions. For the full legal text, see the LICENSE file.

Changelog 📜

Stay updated with our progress! See CHANGELOG.md for a history of changes.

Funding & Acknowledgements 🙏🏻

Land 🏞️ is proud to be an open-source endeavor. Our journey is significantly supported by the organizations and projects that believe in the future of open-source software.

This project is funded through NGI0 Commons Fund, a fund established by NLnet with financial support from the European Commission's Next Generation Internet program. Learn more at the NLnet project page.

Land	PlayForm	NLnet	NGI0 Commons Fund

Project Maintainers: Source Open (Source/Open@editor.land) | GitHub Repository | Report an Issue | Security Policy

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 226 Commits
.cargo		.cargo
.githooks		.githooks
.github		.github
Documentation		Documentation
Proto		Proto
Source		Source
Tests/integration		Tests/integration
.gitignore		.gitignore
.gitmodules		.gitmodules
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md		CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
CONTRIBUTING.md		CONTRIBUTING.md
Cargo.toml		Cargo.toml
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
SECURITY.md		SECURITY.md
build.rs		build.rs
gcm-output.txt		gcm-output.txt

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Grove 🌳

Overview

Key Features 🔐

Core Architecture Principles 🏗️

System Architecture

Key Components

Project Structure 🗺️

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Getting Started 🚀

Prerequisites

Build for Native

Build for WASM

Build with Features

Available Features

As a Library

Security 🔒

Compatibility

API Reference

Related Documentation

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Grove 🌳

Overview

Key Features 🔐

Core Architecture Principles 🏗️

System Architecture

Key Components

Project Structure 🗺️

In the Land Project

Getting Started 🚀

Prerequisites

Build for Native

Build for WASM

Build with Features

Available Features

As a Library

Security 🔒

Compatibility

API Reference

Related Documentation

License ⚖️

Changelog 📜

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