Driver / Kernel build

Hypex is the only modern AI-first IDE with first-class Windows Driver Kit support. The whole loop — install toolchain, scaffold, build, sign — happens inside the integrated terminal, no browser bounce, no Visual Studio jumping.

What you get

• winget-based install — Build Tools 2022 + WDK pulled by command, ~6.5 GB total
• KMDF + UMDF templates — minimal but valid .vcxproj + .inf + .c/.cpp with proper GUIDs and PnP lockdown
• MSBuild integration — auto-finds your VS 2022 installation under Community / Pro / Enterprise / BuildTools
• signtool — drop your .pfx, get a SHA256-signed driver with DigiCert timestamp
• Agent-aware — chat with the agent and it can scaffold + build for you via the wdk_* tools

Where to find it

Three entry points, pick the one closest to you:

• Status bar — click the $(circuit-board) Driver badge on the left of the bottom bar (Windows only).
• Hypex Tools — Ctrl+Alt+H, then "Driver / Kernel Toolchain".
• Command palette — Ctrl+Shift+P → type Hypex Driver.

Commands

End-to-end workflow

1. Open an empty workspace folder (File → Open Folder).
2. Run Hypex: Install WDK + Build Tools if the toolchain isn't already on the machine. Reload the window once both winget installs finish so PATH picks them up.
3. Run Hypex: Scaffold KMDF Driver Project. Three files appear under HypexDriver/ (the .c, .inf and .vcxproj).
4. Edit HypexDriver.c: add your EVT_WDF_* callbacks, queue handlers, etc. The agent can do this for you — try "Add a read queue handler that copies from a 64-byte ring buffer".
5. Run Hypex: Build Driver → pick the project → pick Debug. Watch the integrated terminal.
6. Output: HypexDriver/x64/Debug/HypexDriver.sys. Run Hypex: Sign Driver with your .pfx to ship.

Driving it from chat

The agent has direct access to the WDK toolchain through these tools:

• wdk_check_status — surfaces install state to the agent
• wdk_scaffold_kmdf / wdk_scaffold_umdf — create projects without leaving chat
• wdk_build — runs MSBuild and reports the terminal output

A typical chat turn: "Scaffold a KMDF driver and add a custom IOCTL handler that returns the current tick count. Then build it." — the agent calls the scaffold tool, edits the .c with a new WDF_QUEUE_CONFIG, then triggers the build.

Limitations (v0.1)

• Windows only — no driver work on macOS / Linux. Cross-compile is on the roadmap once we hook into llvm-mingw.
• x64 only — ARM64 targets need a small .vcxproj patch (open an issue if you need this sooner).
• No live-debug helper yet — set up a kernel debugger on a separate VM and use !analyze as usual.
• No PnP test installer — use devcon or pnputil /add-driver manually.

Why bother?

Visual Studio 2022 is the only mainstream IDE with WDK integration today, and it has zero AI agent support. Switching between VS for kernel work and a modern editor for everything else is friction every minute of the day. Hypex collapses both into one tool — same chat, same profiles, same agent — with extra agent profiles tuned for low-level work (Kernel-mode, Research, Security research) that understand IRQL constraints, DDI rules, and safe pointer dereferencing.