@estruyf/vscode

Visual Studio Code extension helpers

The @estruyf/vscode package contains a couple of helpers to make Visual Studio Code Extension development easier.

Installation

Using npm

npm i @estruyf/vscode

Helpers

Configuration

Configuration helpers to make it easier to fetch a setting of your extension.

import { Configuration } from "@estruyf/vscode";

const config = Configuration.get("section");

const mdConfig = Configuration.getForLanguage<string>("markdown");

const setting = Configuration.getSetting<string>("section", "setting");

await Configuration.updateSetting<string>("section", "setting", value);

await Configuration.updateSettingForLanguage<string>(
  "markdown",
  "setting",
  value
);

Editor

import { EditorHelper } from "@estruyf/vscode";

// Show a file in the editor
EditorHelper.showFile(filepath);

// Read a file's content
const content = await EditorHelper.readFile(uri);

// Write content to a file
await EditorHelper.writeFile(uri, "Hello World");

// Check if a file exists
const exists = await EditorHelper.fileExists(uri);

Webview

Message handler

The messageHandler is a helper that makes it easier to send and request data from your extension. It is based on the postMessage and onDidReceiveMessage, but allows you to use async/await to send and receive data.

The messageHandler is can send two types of messages to the extension:

• messageHandler.send: This is a one-way message, where you send data to the extension, but don't expect a response.
• messageHandler.request: This is a two-way message, where you send data to the extension, and expect a response.

All you need to do to use it, is the following:

Webview

import { messageHandler } from "@estruyf/vscode/dist/client";

// Sends a message with id: "GET_DATA"
messageHandler.request<any>("GET_DATA").then((data: any) => {
  // Do something with the returned data
  console.log(data);
});

// Sends a message with id: "POST_DATA" - no data is expected back
messageHandler.send("POST_DATA", { dummy: "Nothing to report..." });

Extension

import { MessageHandlerData } from "@estruyf/vscode";

panel.webview.onDidReceiveMessage(
  (message) => {
    const { command, requestId, payload } = message;

    if (command === "GET_DATA") {
      // Do something with the payload

      // Send a response back to the webview
      panel.webview.postMessage({
        command,
        requestId, // The requestId is used to identify the response
        payload: `Hello from the extension!`,
      } as MessageHandlerData<string>);
    } else if (command === "POST_DATA") {
      // Do something with the payload
    }
  },
  undefined,
  context.subscriptions
);

Errors

In case you want to send an error back to the webview, you can use the error property instead of the payload property and pass in your error data.

Extension

panel.webview.postMessage({
  command,
  requestId, // The requestId is used to identify the response
  error: `Something went wrong!`,
} as MessageHandlerData<string>);

Webview

messageHandler
  .request<string>("GET_DATA_ERROR")
  .then((msg) => {
    setMessage(msg);
  })
  .catch((err) => {
    setError(err);
  });

Messenger

The messenger can be used to send messages to your extension or listen to messages coming from your extension.

import { Messenger } from "@estruyf/vscode/dist/client";

// Get the VS Code API in your webview
Messenger.getVsCodeAPI();

// Listen to messages from your extension.
const listener = (message: MessageEvent<EventData<T>>) => {
  const event = message.data;
  console.log(event.command, event.payload);
};

Messenger.listen<T>(listener);

// Remove a listener
Messenger.unlisten(listener);

// Send a message to your extension
Messenger.send("command", payload);

WebviewHelper

import { WebviewHelper } from "@estruyf/vscode";

// Generate a random string for your webview
WebviewHelper.getNonce();

Utilities

Theme Utilities

import { getThemes, getTheme } from "@estruyf/vscode";

// Get all contributed themes
const themes = getThemes();

// Get the currently active theme or a specific theme by name
const theme = await getTheme();
const specificTheme = await getTheme("Dark+ (default dark)");

Path Utilities

import { parseWinPath } from "@estruyf/vscode";

// Convert Windows path to POSIX path
const posixPath = parseWinPath("C:\\Users\\Name\\file.txt"); // "C:/Users/Name/file.txt"

Workspace Utilities

import { bringToFront } from "@estruyf/vscode";
import { Uri } from "vscode";

// Bring a workspace folder to the front in VS Code
await bringToFront(Uri.file("/path/to/workspace"));

Extension Metadata

ExtensionInfo

The ExtensionInfo class provides metadata and state management for your extension.

import { ExtensionInfo } from "@estruyf/vscode";

const extInfo = ExtensionInfo.getInstance(context);
const name = extInfo.name;
const version = extInfo.version;
const isUpdated = extInfo.isUpdated();
extInfo.updateVersion();

Team Settings

TeamSettings

The TeamSettings class helps manage team-based configuration files and settings.

import { TeamSettings } from "@estruyf/vscode";

// Initialize team settings
TeamSettings.init("team-settings.json", "myExtension");

// Get a team setting
const value = TeamSettings.get<string>("settingKey");

// Update a team setting
await TeamSettings.update<string>("settingKey", "newValue");

// Listen for config changes
TeamSettings.onConfigChange((global) => {
  // Handle config change
});

License

MIT License

Changelog

[1.2.0] 2025-07-31

• Added theme utilities: getThemes and getTheme to retrieve and parse VS Code themes contributed by installed extensions.
• Introduced Theme interface for theme objects.
• Extended EditorHelper with file reading, writing, and existence checking methods.
• Added bringToFront utility to bring a workspace folder to the front in VS Code.
• Added parseWinPath utility to normalize Windows-style paths.
• Added ExtensionInfo class for extension metadata, state, and configuration management.