# Any way to check if we are in develeopment mode or in a host? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cabbage 3\ **Created:** [13 January 2026 19:33 UTC](https://forum.cabbageaudio.com/t/any-way-to-check-if-we-are-in-develeopment-mode-or-in-a-host/4974 "2026-01-13T19:33:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hdale94](https://forum.cabbageaudio.com/user_avatar/forum.cabbageaudio.com/hdale94/32/6371_2.png) [@hdale94](https://forum.cabbageaudio.com/u/hdale94)\ **Post date:** [13 January 2026 19:33 UTC](https://forum.cabbageaudio.com/t/any-way-to-check-if-we-are-in-develeopment-mode-or-in-a-host/4974/1 "2026-01-13T19:33:52Z")
Hello, Was wondering if there’s any way to identify with Csound if you’re running your plugin in development mode (compiled in vs-code), or if the plugin is running in a host. Working on something midi-related, and I’m triggering a synth-voice for testing purposes, but when exporting I need to comment this out every time. Was wondering if there was a more elegant solution 🤔 ---
**Author:** ![rorywalsh](https://forum.cabbageaudio.com/user_avatar/forum.cabbageaudio.com/rorywalsh/32/165_2.png) [@rorywalsh](https://forum.cabbageaudio.com/u/rorywalsh)\ **Post date:** [14 January 2026 09:22 UTC](https://forum.cabbageaudio.com/t/any-way-to-check-if-we-are-in-develeopment-mode-or-in-a-host/4974/2 "2026-01-14T09:22:26Z")
I can add a reserved channel for this now. `IS_A_PLUGIN` is how we did it in Cabbage 2, let’s use that again. ---
**Author:** ![rorywalsh](https://forum.cabbageaudio.com/user_avatar/forum.cabbageaudio.com/rorywalsh/32/165_2.png) [@rorywalsh](https://forum.cabbageaudio.com/u/rorywalsh)\ **Post date:** [14 January 2026 09:26 UTC](https://forum.cabbageaudio.com/t/any-way-to-check-if-we-are-in-develeopment-mode-or-in-a-host/4974/3 "2026-01-14T09:26:35Z")
Just triggered a new build now that will have that reserved channel in it. Good call on that one. It’s quite useful.