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Tour the workspace

One screen for drawing a network, running it, and poking at it. Every app shows the same workspace; VS Code puts the explorer in its own sidebar.

The workspace with the explorer, canvas, and toolbar The workspace with the explorer, canvas, and toolbar

Explorer

Your labs and files. In the desktop and web apps, open it from Labs or Files in the left rail; in VS Code, from the containerlab icon in the Activity Bar.

The explorer with two lab hosts The explorer with two lab hosts

  • Running labs expand to nodes and interfaces, with live interface counters.
  • Undeployed labs are topology files that are not running.
  • Search filters labs, nodes, and interfaces as you type.
  • Right-click anything for its actions: deploy a lab, open a node's shell, capture on an interface.
  • With several lab hosts, each one gets its own section and shows whether you are still signed in.

Canvas

The topology itself. Drag to pan, scroll to zoom, click to select. Double-click a node or link to edit it. Right-click for actions.

The canvas opens locked, so a stray drag changes nothing. Select the lock in the toolbar to edit.

Toolbar

Along the top of the canvas:

Button Does
Play and its menu Deploy, apply, redeploy, destroy, start or stop nodes. See Run a lab.
Lock Allow or block edits.
Filter Find a node by name.
Undo, redo Step through your edits.
Bulk Link Devices Connect many nodes by name pattern.
Layout Arrange the nodes automatically.
Links Show interface names always, on select, or never.
Capture Viewport as SVG Export what you see.
Lab Settings General, Management, Appearance, and Grid settings for this lab.
Toggle YAML Split View Edit the file next to the canvas.

Panels

Panels open on the side of the canvas and stay out of the way otherwise.

  • Palette: node templates, networks, and annotations to drag onto the canvas.
  • Node Editor and Link Editor: every property of the selected item.
  • Nodes, Annotations, YAML, and JSON tabs: lists of the lab's nodes and annotations, and the two files behind the canvas, editable.

What each app adds

VS Code Desktop and web
Labs run Where the extension runs On the lab host you signed in to
Terminals VS Code terminals Terminal windows in the app
Exports Saved through a VS Code dialog Downloaded
Node templates VS Code settings Per user, per lab host
Extras Draw.io, SSHX, GoTTY, fcli Several lab hosts at once, shared labs