Extension Guides (original) (raw)

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In this article

Once you have learned the basics of Visual Studio Code Extension API in the Hello World sample, it's time to build some real-world extensions. While the Extension Capabilities section offers high-level overviews of what an extension can do, this section contains a list of detailed code guides and samples that explains how to use a specific VS Code API.

In each guide or sample, you can expect to find:

Thoroughly commented source code.
A gif or image showing the usage of the sample extension.
Instructions for running the sample extension.
Listing of VS Code API being used.
Listing of Contribution Points being used.
Real-world extensions resembling the sample.
Explanation of API concepts.

Guides & Samples

Here are the guides on the VS Code website, including their usage of the VS Code API and Contribution Points. Don't forget to refer to the UX Guidelines to learn the user interface best practices for creating extensions.

Guide on VS Code Website	API & Contribution
Command	commands contributes.commands
Color Theme	contributes.themes
File Icon Theme	contributes.iconThemes
Product Icon Theme	contributes.productIconThemes
Tree View	window.createTreeView window.registerTreeDataProvider TreeView TreeDataProvider contributes.views contributes.viewsContainers
Webview	window.createWebviewPanel window.registerWebviewPanelSerializer
Custom Editors	window.registerCustomEditorProvider CustomTextEditorProvider contributes.customEditors
Virtual Documents	workspace.registerTextDocumentContentProvider commands.registerCommand window.showInputBox
Virtual Workspaces	workspace.fscapabilities.virtualWorkspaces
Workspace Trust	workspace.isTrusted workspace.onDidGrantWorkspaceTrustcapabilities.untrustedWorkspaces
Task Provider	tasks.registerTaskProvider Task ShellExecution contributes.taskDefinitions
Source Control	workspace.workspaceFolders SourceControl SourceControlResourceGroup scm.createSourceControl TextDocumentContentProvider contributes.menus
Debugger Extension	contributes.breakpoints contributes.debuggers debug
Markdown Extension	markdown.previewStylesmarkdown.markdownItPluginsmarkdown.previewScripts
Test Extension	TestController TestItem
Custom Data Extension	contributes.html.customDatacontributes.css.customData

Here is a list of additional samples from the VS Code Extensions samples repo.

Sample on GitHub Repo	API & Contribution
Webview Sample	window.createWebviewPanel window.registerWebviewPanelSerializer
Status Bar Sample	window.createStatusBarItem StatusBarItem
Tree View Sample	window.createTreeView window.registerTreeDataProvider TreeView TreeDataProvider contributes.views contributes.viewsContainers
Task Provider Sample	tasks.registerTaskProvider Task ShellExecution contributes.taskDefinitions
Multi Root Sample	workspace.getWorkspaceFolder workspace.onDidChangeWorkspaceFolders
Completion Provider Sample	languages.registerCompletionItemProvider CompletionItem SnippetString
File System Provider Sample	workspace.registerFileSystemProvider
Editor Decorator Sample	TextEditor.setDecorations DecorationOptions DecorationInstanceRenderOptions ThemableDecorationInstanceRenderOptions window.createTextEditorDecorationType TextEditorDecorationType contributes.colors
L10N Sample
Terminal Sample	window.createTerminal window.onDidChangeActiveTerminal window.onDidCloseTerminal window.onDidOpenTerminal window.Terminal window.terminals
Vim Sample	commands StatusBarItem window.createStatusBarItem TextEditorCursorStyle window.activeTextEditor Position Range Selection TextEditor TextEditorRevealType TextDocument
Source Control Sample	workspace.workspaceFolders SourceControl SourceControlResourceGroup scm.createSourceControl TextDocumentContentProvider contributes.menus
Commenting API Sample
Document Editing Sample	commands contributes.commands
Getting Started Sample	contributes.walkthroughs
Test extension	TestController TestItem

Language Extension Samples

These samples are Language Extensions samples:

Sample	Guide on VS Code Website
Snippet Sample	/api/language-extensions/snippet-guide
Language Configuration Sample	/api/language-extensions/language-configuration-guide
LSP Sample	/api/language-extensions/language-server-extension-guide
LSP Log Streaming Sample	N/A
LSP Multi Root Server Sample	https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/wiki/Adopting-Multi-Root-Workspace-APIs#language-client--language-server (GitHub repo wiki)
LSP Web Extension Sample	/api/language-extensions/language-server-extension-guide

04/03/2025