vscode-ext-commands

VS Code extension command contribution

This skill helps you to contribute commands in VS Code extensions

When to use this skill

Use this skill when you need to:

• Add or update commands to your VS Code extension

Change only the commands the user asked for. Ask the user for explicit confirmation before renaming or removing existing command identifiers, keybindings or menu entries, and point out any change that affects public command identifiers.

Instructions

VS Code commands must always define a title, independent of its category, visibility or location. We use a few patterns for each "kind" of command, with some characteristics, described below:

• Regular commands: By default, all commands should be accessible in the Command Palette, must define a category, and don't need an icon, unless the command will be used in the Side Bar. A command that stays visible in the Command Palette and also appears in a view keeps a normal name and adds an icon; Side Bar exclusive commands use the Side Bar naming pattern below and are hidden from the Command Palette.

• Side Bar commands: Its name follows a special pattern, starting with underscore (_) and suffixed with #sideBar, like _extensionId.someCommand#sideBar for instance. This naming pattern is a team convention rather than a VS Code platform rule, so apply it only where the target extension already uses it. Must define an icon, and may or may not have some rule for enablement. Side Bar exclusive commands should not be visible in the Command Palette. To hide one, give its Command Palette menu entry a when condition that is false. Hiding a command from the Command Palette and using the underscore prefix is a UI convention, not access control: such commands can still be invoked in other ways, so their handlers must validate their arguments and must handle calls from any source. Contributing it to the view/title or view/item/context, we must inform order/position that it will be displayed, and we can use terms "relative to other command/button" in order to you identify the correct group to be used. Ask the user which existing command or button the new one should appear next to, then follow the existing group values in the extension manifest. Also, it's a good practice to define the condition (when) for the new command is visible.