BBC MICRO · VS CODE IDEALPHA · USE AT YOUR OWN RISK

Beeb-dev

BBC Micro development in VS Code: BeebAsm 6502 and BBC BASIC editing, a screen-layout editor, an EGFX sprite editor, asset and ROM management, and B-em emulation from one GUI-first extension.

Everything can be done from the UI. The same operations are available as commands and as MCP tools, so a coding agent can drive a project headlessly. Beeb-dev builds the discs, edits the sprites, mounts the sideways ROMs and launches the emulator without leaving the editor.

01 · Install

The extension arrives with the beta release. You also need B-em on your PATH for emulation, and BeebAsm for builds (or declare your own build script).

02 · What’s inside

• New Project… sets up the open folder with beeb-dev.ini, src/, build/ and agent guidance, and never overwrites existing configuration.
• Environments view: every [env:*] in beeb-dev.ini with build and run buttons; the active environment is shown in the status bar.
• Beeb Screen Editor: a canvas for any mode 0–7 with shapes, text, sprites, progress bars and banners that stay editable. Exports EGFX PROCeg* calls or portable VDU code.
• Beeb Sprite Editor: opens EGSP packs, companion ROMs and native EGFX sprite projects in an editor tab, with frames, an animated preview, undo and Save As for new resources.
• ROM-call drag templates: shift-drag an EGFX or EAudio function, or one of the 50 built-in EAudio effects, from the Assets view into BASIC or BeebAsm. It inserts a complete OSWORD block with editable fields, using free line numbers and never renumbering.
• Asset management: sprites with thumbnails, EAudio ROM images, WAV samples, 40-column text with width warnings, and declared ROM banks mounted into the generated B-em configuration automatically.
• Language support: BeebAsm 6502, BBC BASIC (with formatter), Acorn Fortran, Acorn Pascal and Acornsoft Lisp, and a memory-map view built from beebasm -labels.
• Experimental BBC BASIC cross-compiler: compiles an integer-oriented subset of BASIC IV to 6502 assembly, with size/speed goals, IF/ELSE, DATA/READ and GET. It compiles the EGFX scene-1 benchmark and its output matches the interpreter byte-for-byte on that frame. It does not compile full BASIC yet.

03 · Guides

04 · For AI agents

Bundled zero-dependency MCP server over stdio, with the same command line for every host:

node <extension>/out/mcp/server.js <project-root>

Tools: beeb_project_info, beeb_build, beeb_run, beeb_memory_map, beeb_list_sprites, beeb_list_assets, beeb_read_screen, beeb_export_screen and beeb_compile_basic. When you open a trusted project, Beeb-dev installs the BBC startup handbook, managed sections in AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md, and Kilo/Claude skills, preserving anything you have customised. The handbook gives guidance; it does not prove a game works.

05 · About this build

0.1.14 was packaged on 25 October 2026 from the repository’s committed head.