Recommending & using the same VSCode extensions within a workspace
Increase the power of VSCode IDE through extensions. Extensions are ready-to-use packages that can be installed within VSCode to enhance productivity, reduce development time. These extensions can make the development lifecycle quicker, effective, and more efficient.
There are tons of extensions readily available within the VSCode marketplace for usage. To use and recommend the right ones for the project is more important otherwise team can be impacted adversely.
A good set of extensions can make working with a particular workspace or programming language more productive and enjoyable. And this experience one wants to share with the team members. VSCode allows a team member to recommend new extensions to the whole team by showing an alert or notification to install the recommended extensions.
Enabling VSCode Extension Recommendation
In a single folder workspace, the command "Configure Recommended Extension" creates an "extension.json" file located in the workspace ".vscode" folder where one can add a list of extension identifiers. The extension identifier is a combination of publisher name and extension name.
In the multi-root workspace, the command “Configure Recommended Extension” will open the “.code-workspace” file where one can add the list of extensions under "extensions. recommendations". One can still add extension recommendations to individual folders within a multi-root workspace.
An example extension.json could be:
which recommends 5 extensions to the team members
How to find an extension identifier
An extension identifier is a combination name of publisher name and extension name. This identifier is unique for every extension available in the VSCode marketplace.
- Go to the extension's browser in the VSCode and search for the desired extension.
2. Selection of the desired extension will open a detailed view in the right panel of the VSCode, from the detail view one can find various information about the extension like downloads, publisher, how to configure information, etc, and also the extension unique identifier. E.g. in the above image "bracket pair colorizer" is selected so its detail view is opened in the right panel
3. As highlighted in the drop-down menu above press "Copy Extension Id" to get the extension's unique identifier
4. Paste this unique identifier in the "extension.json" for further recommendations among team members
Conclusion
Having a set of recommended extensions for a workspace or a programming language always helps to unify the IDE across the team members, and make the whole collaboration work more efficient and effective.
Happy Coding :)