Accelerate Microservice Development with Nocalhost on Rainbond

Introduction

Nocalhost is an open‑source, IDE‑based cloud‑native application development tool that enables building, testing, and debugging applications directly inside a Kubernetes cluster. It offers easy‑to‑use IDE plugins for VS Code and JetBrains, providing a local‑like development experience even when working remotely, and uses instant file synchronization to push code changes to remote containers without rebuilding images.

Rainbond is a cloud‑native application management platform that simplifies deployment without requiring deep knowledge of containers or Kubernetes. It supports multi‑cluster management and the full application lifecycle, including development environments, app marketplace, microservice architecture, delivery, operation, and multi‑cloud management.

Local + Rainbond Microservice Development

Previously, developers ran some modules locally while others ran on Rainbond, communicating through Rainbond's gateway. This approach caused several issues:

Collaboration and joint debugging were difficult.

Local environment differences.

Inability to call other services via the registration center (Nacos).

Remote debugging was hard.

Limited by local resources.

Using Nocalhost + Rainbond for Microservice Development

With Nocalhost + Rainbond, all services run on Rainbond. Developers use VS Code locally to connect directly to Rainbond components, with real‑time code synchronization. Multi‑person development can leverage Rainbond's built‑in Service Mesh for service‑to‑service integration.

Practical Steps

1. Install Nocalhost Plugin

Nocalhost supports VScode and JetBrains. The guide focuses on the VS Code plugin installation.

Open VS Code and click the Extension icon.

Search for Nocalhost, select the plugin, and click Install .

2. Install Rainbond

Choose the host‑based installation method.

3. Connect Nocalhost to a Rainbond Cluster

Obtain the kubeconfig file from the Rainbond console (Cluster View → Node Configuration → kubeconfig).

Save the file locally as yaml.

In VS Code, click the Nocalhost Connect to Cluster button, select the saved kubeconfig path, and add the cluster.

4. Deploy a Spring Cloud Microservice on Rainbond

Install the “Spring Cloud Pig” microservice from the open‑source app store.

After deployment, the service is ready.

5. Enter Nocalhost Development Mode

Select a component (e.g., pig-ui) for development.

Click the 🔨 button in VS Code to enter development mode.

Choose the target container (e.g., gred5f1c); the other container is the Rainbond Mesh container and cannot be replaced.

Specify the local source code directory (the cloned repository).

After a short wait, VS Code opens a remote terminal and synchronizes files in real time.

5.1 Start the Project

Install dependencies: npm install Run the project: npm run dev The container exposes port 80.

5.2 Port Forwarding

Click the port‑forward button, select the Deployment, and add a forward from 80 to local 38000.

Access the application at http://localhost:38000 and log in successfully.

5.3 Modify Code and See Changes

Edit src/page/wel.vue, save, and the remote container restarts automatically, mirroring local development. Changes are synchronized instantly; refreshing http://localhost:38000 shows the updates.

Conclusion

By following these steps, developers can use Nocalhost to develop microservice applications on Rainbond, eliminating the need for local environments, accelerating cloud‑native development, and improving productivity. Additional Nocalhost configuration options are available for further customization.