The Makefile that drives a Cloud Function workspace relies on UNIX technologies, making it more difficult for non-UNIX users to set up their workspace.

To solve this issue, the IXON Cloud Functions SDK is set up to run in a Docker container, facilitating its use on any system.
Before using the IXON Cloud Function SDK, you will have to follow a few steps which you can find below.

Install WSL2 (Microsoft Windows users only)

Installing WSL2 is necessary in case the developer is using Microsoft Windows.

1. Open PowerShell as administrator: Right-click the Start menu and select Terminal (Admin), or search for Windows PowerShell, right-click, and Run as administrator.

2. Install WSL2 and its default distro (Ubuntu): Run wsl --install. Verify with wsl --version.

3. Reboot your PC to complete setup.

4. Verify the installation by running wsl -l -v in PowerShell. This shows installed distributions and their WSL version (you want version 2).

Install Docker Desktop (Microsoft Windows and MacOS)

To work with Cloud Functions on a Microsoft Windows machine, you will first need to Install Docker Desktop. Doing so will automatically also install the Docker Engine on your system.

To install Docker Desktop on your system, follow the Microsoft Windows and MacOS installation guides respectively.

How to allow Docker commands to be used in the WSL CLI

This step is needed to allow Docker commands to run in WSL.

1. Open Docker Desktop and navigate to Settings > Resources > WSL Integrations.
2. Make sure to check the Enable integration with my default WSL distro option.
3. Just to be sure, you can also enable the intergration with additional distros.

Your setup will look roughly like this (Ubuntu 24.04 will not be there unless you have installed it):

Use WSL and Ubuntu through VS Code

Prerequisites: VS Code installed on Windows, WSL & Ubuntu set up, Python 3 installed in WSL & Ubuntu.

1. Install Visual Studio Code on Windows.

2. Install the WSL extension from the VS Code Extensions marketplace:

   

   The extension's marketplace page has a detailed setup guide.

3. Open a folder in WSL. Press Ctrl+Shift+P (or View > Command Palette), type WSL: Open Folder in WSL…, and select your project. VS Code will open a new window connected to your default WSL distro.

   📘

   Reaching your Windows drive

   In WSL, your Windows drives are mounted under /mnt. Your C: drive is at /mnt/c. After choosing WSL: Open Folder in WSL… you'll start in /home/username — clear that and type mnt, then browse to c/Users/... and your project.

   

   Alternatively, open a WSL terminal in a regular VS Code window, cd to your project folder, and run code ..

   With either approach, the project folder opens in VS Code through the WSL environment, with the venv provided by IXON's development setup. All required dependencies and tools work seamlessly without anything special in requirements.txt.

You now have a working WSL environment driving VS Code.

Optionals

You can open a Windows folder in VS Code from a WSL terminal using:

cd "/mnt/c/Users/<your_Windows_username>" && code .

You can browse WSL files from Windows File Explorer at \\wsl$\Ubuntu\home\<your_linux_username>. Replace Ubuntu with your distro name if different. Your Linux username likely has an underscore separating first and last name and no capitals.