vsc-extension-quickstart.md

Welcome to your VS Code Extension

What's in the folder

• This folder contains all of the files necessary for your extension.
• package.json - this is the manifest file in which you declare your extension and command.
  • The sample plugin registers a command and defines its title and command name. With this information VS Code can show the command in the command palette. It doesn’t yet need to load the plugin.
• src/extension.ts - this is the main file where you will provide the implementation of your command.
  • The file exports one function, activate, which is called the very first time your extension is activated (in this case by executing the command).

Get started

• Clone the extension repo.
• After cloning the extension repo, run npm install to install the extension's dependencies.

Get up and running straight away

• Press F5 to open a new window with your extension loaded.
• Set breakpoints in your code inside src/extension.ts to debug your extension.
• Find output from your extension in the debug console.

Make changes

• You can relaunch the extension from the debug toolbar after changing code in src/extension.ts.
• You can also reload (Ctrl+R or Cmd+R on Mac) the VS Code window with your extension to load your changes.

Explore the API

• You can open the full set of our API when you open the file node_modules/@types/vscode/index.d.ts.

Build VSIX package

• Run the following command line to build the vsix package:

vsce package

Run tests

• Install the Extension Test Runner
• Run the "watch" task via the Tasks: Run Task command. Make sure this is running, or tests might not be discovered.
• Open the Testing view from the activity bar and click the Run Test" button, or use the hotkey Ctrl/Cmd + ; A
• See the output of the test result in the Test Results view.
• Make changes to src/test/extension.test.ts or create new test files inside the test folder.
  • The provided test runner will only consider files matching the name pattern **.test.ts.
  • You can create folders inside the test folder to structure your tests any way you want.

Go further

• Follow UX guidelines to create extensions that seamlessly integrate with VS Code's native interface and patterns.
• Reduce the extension size and improve the startup time by bundling your extension.
• Publish your extension on the VS Code extension marketplace.
• Automate builds by setting up Continuous Integration.
• Integrate to the report issue flow to get issue and feature requests reported by users.