Choose a surface

Surface	Primary job	Includes preview?	Native access?
Browser workbench	Work with complete projects in a browser	Yes, when supported	No
Installed app	Work with local projects through platform adapters	Optional	Yes
<vertex-editor>	Embed code editing in another product	No	No
<vertex-editor-lite>	Display highlighted, read-only code	No	No

Choose the smallest surface that owns the capability you need.

The custom elements deliberately do not expose filesystem, Git, terminal, build, preview, or deployment APIs. Those are workbench concerns.