When Clauses

When clauses are conditional expressions that gate the visibility and executability of docks, commands, and any other UI surface you wire them into. The syntax matches VS Code's when-clause contexts, evaluated against a reactive context object.

The evaluator is the external whenexpr package. Devframe re-exports evaluateWhen, resolveContextValue, and the WhenExpression<Ctx, S> type helper from devframe/utils/when.

Usage

On commands

Controls whether the command appears in the palette and whether it can be triggered via shortcuts:

ctx.commands.register({
  id: 'my-devtool:embedded-only',
  title: 'Embedded-Only Action',
  when: 'clientType == embedded',
  handler: async () => { /* … */ },
})

On dock entries

Controls whether a dock is visible in the dock bar:

ctx.docks.register({
  id: 'my-devtool:inspector',
  title: 'Inspector',
  type: 'action',
  icon: 'ph:cursor-duotone',
  when: 'clientType == embedded',
  action: { importFrom: 'my-devtool/inspector' },
})

when: 'false' hides an entry unconditionally.

Expression syntax

Operators

Category	Operators	Example
Bare truthy	identifier	dockOpen
Literals	true, false, numbers, strings	true, 42, 'dev'
Unary	!, -, +	!paletteOpen
Logical	&&, ||	dockOpen && !paletteOpen
Equality	==, !=, ===, !==	clientType == embedded
Relational	<, <=, >, >=	count >= 10
Arithmetic	+, -, *, /, %	(a + b) * c
Grouping	( … )	(a || b) && c

Precedence (low → high)

|| → && → equality → relational → + - → * / % → unary → primary.

== vs ===

• == / != — VS Code when-clause idiom. The right-hand side is a single token (bare identifier, quoted string, number, or boolean); comparison is done as a string.
• === / !== — JavaScript strict equality. Both sides are full expressions, no coercion.

evaluateWhen('clientType == embedded', ctx) // string-style
evaluateWhen('count === 1', { count: 1 }) // true
evaluateWhen('count === 1', { count: '1' }) // false

Examples

when: 'true' // always visible
when: 'false' // never visible
when: 'clientType == embedded' // only embedded
when: 'dockOpen && !paletteOpen' // dock open and palette closed
when: '(clientType == embedded && dockOpen) || clientType == standalone'
when: 'my-devtool.ready' // custom plugin context

Built-in context variables

Variable	Type	Description
clientType	'embedded' | 'standalone'	embedded when running inside the host app overlay, standalone in a separate window.
dockOpen	boolean	Whether the dock panel is currently open.
paletteOpen	boolean	Whether the command palette is currently open.
dockSelectedId	string	ID of the currently selected dock entry. Empty string '' when none.

Namespaced context keys

Plugins add keys using . or : separators:

context['my-devtool.ready'] = true
context['my-devtool:step'] = 'build'
context.myDevtool = { ready: true, step: 'build' } // nested form

All three work in expressions:

when: 'my-devtool.ready'
when: 'my-devtool:step == build'
when: 'myDevtool.ready'

Lookup order

When resolving a key like my-devtool.ready:

1. Exact match — ctx['my-devtool.ready'].
2. Nested path — ctx['my-devtool']?.ready.

Flat keys take priority when both exist.

Type-safe when clauses

defineCommand and defineDockEntry capture when: as a TypeScript literal and validate it against WhenContext via whenexpr's WhenExpression<Ctx, S> helper — syntax errors surface at compile time:

import { defineCommand } from 'devframe'

defineCommand({
  id: 'my-devtool:toggle',
  title: 'Toggle',
  when: 'dockOpen && !paletteOpen', // ✓ ok
  handler: async () => {},
})

defineCommand({
  id: 'my-devtool:broken',
  title: 'Broken',
  when: 'dockOpen &&& !paletteOpen',
  //    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Type error: syntax error
  handler: async () => {},
})

Key validation with plugin contexts

The default WhenContext keeps namespaced plugin keys open-ended ([key: string]: unknown); built-in syntax checking covers expression shape. For key-name validation, declare a narrower context and build a typed wrapper:

import type { WhenContext, WhenExpression } from 'devframe/utils/when'

interface MyPluginContext extends Omit<WhenContext, keyof any> {
  'clientType': 'embedded' | 'standalone'
  'dockOpen': boolean
  'paletteOpen': boolean
  'dockSelectedId': string
  'my-devtool.ready': boolean
}

function defineMyCommand<const W extends string>(cmd: {
  id: string
  title: string
  when?: WhenExpression<MyPluginContext, W>
  handler: (...args: any[]) => Promise<unknown>
}): typeof cmd {
  return cmd
}

defineMyCommand({
  id: 'my-devtool:toggle',
  title: 'Toggle',
  when: 'my-devtool.ready && dockOpen', // ✓ ok
  handler: async () => {},
})

defineMyCommand({
  id: 'my-devtool:broken',
  title: 'Broken',
  when: 'my-devtool.read', // ← typo
  //    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Type error: Unknown context key
  handler: async () => {},
})

API reference

import type { WhenContext } from 'devframe/utils/when'
import { evaluateWhen, resolveContextValue } from 'devframe/utils/when'

const ctx: WhenContext = {
  'clientType': 'embedded',
  'dockOpen': true,
  'paletteOpen': false,
  'dockSelectedId': 'my-dock',
  'my-devtool.ready': true,
}

evaluateWhen('dockOpen && my-devtool.ready', ctx) // true
evaluateWhen('clientType == standalone', ctx) // false

resolveContextValue('my-devtool.ready', ctx) // true

evaluateWhen(expression, ctx, options?)

Returns boolean. Pass { strict: true } to throw on unknown keys — useful in tests to catch typos.

resolveContextValue(key, ctx)

Returns the current value of a single (possibly namespaced) key. Used internally by the evaluator and exposed for integrations that surface live context values.

WhenExpression<Ctx, S>

The branded expression type re-exported from whenexpr. Use it to build your own typed define* helpers — see Key validation with plugin contexts above.