Resources

Beginner guides

Extension docs

• Extension overview in the docs
• Your First Extension in the docs

Sample projects

• MichaelCurrin/vsc-extension-quickstart GH repo
  • My repo which contains an auto-generated Hello World extension.
  • I added detailed docs explaining how the extension works and how to install and use it locally.
  • It is available as a template repo so you can create get your own copy.
• VSCode Extension Samples
  • This is good to look at once you’re familiar with one of the simple setups above.
  • This Samples repo by Microsoft contains many variations of extensions that demonstrate functionality.
  • Use one of the directories in their as a starting point for one of your projects, or just use pieces you need from each. There are GIFs in each to give a nice preview.
  • In particular, see:
    • Hello World Minimal Sample
    • Hello World Sample without tests
    • Hello World Test Sample which includes tests.

Export and publish your extension

What to do next once you’ve got a working extension that runs in debug mode

• VSCE CLI docs
• vsce package on NPM
• microsoft/vscode-vsce GH repo

  vsce, short for “Visual Studio Code Extensions”, is a command-line tool for packaging, publishing and managing VS Code extensions.

• Publishing extensions in VS Code docs

VS Code

Links around VS Code itself

• code.visualstudio.com - VS Code homepage
• microsoft/vscode GH repo for core VS Code
• Visual Studio Code Marketplace
  • Browse extensions in the browser. Click on an extension and click the GH repo link to look at the source code.
  • Or open the Extensions tab in VS Code and search there.

More extensions

Some extensions I’d like to recommend

• MichaelCurrin/auto-commit-msg

  Generate descriptive commit messages based on files to be committed without touching your keyboard

  • I wrote this as my first extension. It is still work in progress but it is working and has a nice flow of tests and installation. It was based heavily on the two extensions listed next.
• Git Semantic Commit
• Git Prefix

You can also find any extension in the marketplace and find a link to the GH repo. Look at the code yourself and use it as a reference or fork a repo.