How to Contribute

Contributing to Code

There are many ways to contribute to the Code project: logging bugs, submitting pull requests, reporting issues, and creating suggestions.

After cloning and building the repo, check out the issues list. Issues labeled effort easy are good candidates to pick up if you are in the code for the first time.

Build and Run From Source

If you want to understand how Code works or want to debug an issue, you'll want to get the source, build it, and run the tool locally.

Installing Prerequisites

You'll need git and a recent version of Node.JS (any v6.x is recommended, on Windows you need at least v6.x). nvm is also highly recommended.

Code includes node module dependencies that require native compilation. To ensure the compilation is picking up the right version of header files from the Electron Shell, we have our own script to run the installation via npm.

For native compilation, you will need Python (version v2.7 recommended, v3.x.x is not supported), as well as a C/C++ compiler tool chain.

Windows

• Warning: nodejs/node-gyp#972 causes compile errors if you are using Visual Studio 2015 (error C2373: '__pfnDliNotifyHook2': redefinition;) so make sure to have at least node.js v6.x installed that includes the fix
• Warning: npm/npm#12698 prevents us from using npm < 3.10.8, be sure to install npm >= 3.10.8 (npm install -g [email protected]) after you have installed node.js.
• In addition to Python v2.7, make sure you have a PYTHON environment variable set to drive:\path\to\python.exe, not to a folder
• Visual Studio 2013 for Windows Desktop or Visual Studio 2015, make sure to select the option to install all C++ tools and the Windows SDK

OS X

• Command line developer tools
• Python should be installed already
• Xcode and the Command Line Tools (Xcode -> Preferences -> Downloads), which will install gcc and the related toolchain containing make

Linux

• Python v2.7
• make
• A proper C/C++11 compiler tool chain, for example GCC
• native-keymap needs libx11-dev.
• On Debian-based Linux: sudo apt-get install libx11-dev
• On Red Hat-based Linux: sudo yum install libx11-devel.x86_64 # or .i686.
• Building deb and rpm packages requires fakeroot and rpm, run: sudo apt-get install fakeroot rpm

After you have these tools installed, run the following commands to check out Code and install dependencies:

OS X

git clone https://github.com/microsoft/vscode
cd vscode
./scripts/npm.sh install

Windows

git clone https://github.com/microsoft/vscode
cd vscode
scripts\npm install

Linux

git clone https://github.com/microsoft/vscode
cd vscode
./scripts/npm.sh install --arch=x64
# for 32bit Linux
#./scripts/npm.sh install --arch=ia32

Note: For more information on how to install NPM modules globally on UNIX systems without resorting to sudo, refer to this guide.

Packaging

VS Code can be built into platform-specific packages via gulp tasks. See gulpfile.vscode.js for the available packaging tasks.

Development Workflow

Incremental Build

From a terminal, where you have cloned the vscode repository, execute the following command to run the TypeScript incremental builder:

npm run watch

It will do an initial full build and then watch for file changes, compiling those changes incrementally, enabling a fast, iterative coding experience.

Tip! Linux users may hit a ENOSPC error when running npm run watch, to get around this follow instructions in the Common Questions.

Tip! Open VS Code on the folder where you have cloned the vscode repository and press CMD+SHIFT+B (CTRL+SHIFT+B on Windows, Linux) to start the builder. To view the build output open the Output stream by pressing CMD+SHIFT+U.

Errors and Warnings

Errors and warnings will show in the console while developing Code. If you use VS Code to develop Code, errors and warnings are shown in the status bar at the bottom left of the editor. You can view the error list using View | Errors and Warnings or pressing CMD+P and then !.

Tip! You don't need to stop and restart the development version of Code after each change. You can just execute Reload Window from the command palette. We like to assign the keyboard shortcut CMD+R (CTRL+R on Windows, Linux) to this command.

Validate your changes

To test the changes you launch a development version of VS Code on the workspace vscode, which you are currently editing.

OS X and Linux

./scripts/code.sh

Windows

.\scripts\code.bat

You can identify the development version of Code by the Electron icon in the Dock or Taskbar.

Tip! If you receive an error stating that the app is not a valid Electron app, it probably means you didn't run npm run watch first.

Debugging

Code has a multi-process architecture and your code is executed in different processes.

The render process runs the UI code inside the Shell window. To debug code running in the render you can either use VS Code or the Chrome Developer Tools.

Using VSCode

• Install the Debugger for Chrome extension. This extension will let you attach to and debug client side code running in Chrome.
• Launch the development version of Code with the following command line option:

OSX and Linux

./scripts/code.sh --remote-debugging-port=9222

Windows

scripts\code --remote-debugging-port=9222

• Choose the Attach to VSCode launch configuration from the launch dropdown in the Debug viewlet and press F5.

Using the Chrome Developer Tools

• Run the Developer: Toggle Developer Tools command from the Command Palette in your development instance of Code to launch the Chrome tools.
• It's also possible to debug the released versions of Code, since the sources link to sourcemaps hosted online.

The extension host process runs code implemented by a plugin. To debug extensions (including those packaged with Code) which run in the extension host process, you can use VS Code itself. Switch to the Debug viewlet, choose the Attach to Extension Host configuration, and press F5.

Unit Testing

Launch the command palette (F1) and run the command "Tasks: Run Test Task" to start the unit tests from within VS Code. Alternatively you can run the tests directly from a terminal by running ./scripts/test.sh from the vscode folder (scripts\test on Windows). The test README has complete details on how to run and debug tests, as well as how to produce coverage reports.

Linting

We use tslint for linting our sources. You can run tslint across the sources by calling gulp tslint from a terminal or command prompt. You can also run gulp tslint as a Code task by pressing CMD+P (CTRL+P on Windows) and entering task tslint. Warnings from tslint show up in the Errors and Warnings quick box and you can navigate to them from inside Code.

To lint the source as you make changes you can install the tslint extension.

Work Branches

Even if you have push rights on the Microsoft/vscode repository, you should create a personal fork and create feature branches there when you need them. This keeps the main repository clean and your personal workflow cruft out of sight.

Pull Requests

Before we can accept a pull request from you, you'll need to sign a Contributor License Agreement (CLA). It is an automated process and you only need to do it once.

To enable us to quickly review and accept your pull requests, always create one pull request per issue and link the issue in the pull request. Never merge multiple requests in one unless they have the same root cause. Be sure to follow our Coding Guidelines and keep code changes as small as possible. Avoid pure formatting changes to code that has not been modified otherwise. Pull requests should contain tests whenever possible.

Where to Contribute

Check out the full issues list for a list of all potential areas for contributions. Note that just because an issue exists in the repository does not mean we will accept a contribution to the core editor for it. There are several reasons we may not accepts a pull request like:

• Performance - One of Visual Studio Code's core values is to deliver a lightweight code editor, that means it should perform well in both real and perceived performance.
• User experience - Since we want to deliver a lightweight code editor, the UX should feel lightweight as well and not be cluttered. Most changes to the UI should go through the issue owner and/or the UX team.
• Architectural - The team and/or feature owner needs to agree with any architectural impact a change may make. Things like new extension APIs must be discussed with and agreed upon by the feature owner.

To improve the chances to get a pull request merged you should select an issue that is labelled with the help-wanted or bug labels. If the issue you want to work is not labelled with help-wanted or bug, you can start a conversation with the issue owner asking whether an external contribution will be considered.

Suggestions

We're also interested in your feedback for the future of Code. You can submit a suggestion or feature request through the issue tracker. To make this process more effective, we're asking that these include more information to help define them more clearly.

Discussion Etiquette

In order to keep the conversation clear and transparent, please limit discussion to English and keep things on topic with the issue. Be considerate to others and try to be courteous and professional at all times.