launch-ide

launch-ide ·

Automatically recognize the editor by running processes and open the specified file in it. It is compatible in Windows, MacOS and Linux.

💡 Why

There are already some tools to open the file in the editor, but launch-ide has the following advantages:

• Automatically recognize the editor by running processes, you don't need to configure the editor path.
• Launch the ide by the executable file of the editor, so you don't need to install the command line tools of the editor such as code.
• Support for more editors such as VSCode, Cursor, Windsurf, WebStorm, etc.
• Compatible with platforms such as Windows, MacOS, and Linux.
• Compatible for Chinese characters in the file path.

🛠️ Installation

npm i launch-ide

🚀 Usage

import { launchIDE } from 'launch-ide';

// Open the file in the current editor and position the cursor at line 10 and column 20
launchIDE({ file: '/Users/zh-lx/Desktop/test.ts', line: 10, column: 20 });

// Open the file with more options
launchIDE({ 
  file: '/Users/zh-lx/Desktop/test.ts', // required: the file path to open
  line: 10, // optional: the line number to position the cursor at
  column: 20, // optional: the column number to position the cursor at
  editor: 'code', // optional: specify the editor with IDE encoding name
});

📖 Parameters

interface LaunchIDEParams {
  /**
   * @required
   * @type: string
   * @description: the file path to open
   */
  file: string; 

  /**
   * @optional
   * @type: number
   * @description: the line number to position the cursor at
   */
  line?: number;

  /**
   * @optional
   * @type: number
   * @description: the column number to position the cursor at
   */
  column?: number; 

  /**
   * @optional
   * @type: string
   * @description: specify the editor with IDE encoding name
   */
  editor?: string; 

  /**
   * @optional
   * @type: string
   * @description: when you use the `editor` outside the supported list, you can specify the format of the file to open
   * @default '{file}:{line}:{column}'
   */
  format?: string;

  /**
   * @optional
   * @type: string
   * @description: reuse or open a new window to open the file
   * @default 'auto'
   */
  method?: 'reuse' | 'new' | 'auto';

  /**
   * @optional
   * @type: function
   * @description: callback function when an error occurs
   */
  onError?: (file: string, error: string) => void;

  /**
   * @optional
   * @type: string
   * @description: Whether to guess the editor by the process id. When you use pid, the accuracy of the editor is higher, but the performance is lower.
   * @default false
   */
  usePid?: boolean;

  /**
   * @optional
   * @type: string
   * @description: The ways to launch the editor. `exec`: opening editor using the executable path. `open`: opening editor using the macOS `open` command (activates the editor). `open-bg`: like `open` but adds the `-g` flag, so the file opens at the right line without bringing the editor to the foreground — the user's current window (e.g. browser) keeps focus. `open` and `open-bg` are only effective on MacOS and these editors: code/cursor/windsurf/qoder/comate/trae/codebuddy/antigravity/kiro/codium
   * @default exec
   */
  type?: 'exec' | 'open' | 'open-bg';
}

🎨 Supported editors

IDE	IDE Encoding Name	MacOS	Windows	Linux
Visual Studio Code	code	✅	✅	✅
Cursor	cursor	✅	✅	✅
Windsurf	windsurf	✅	✅	✅
Trae	trae	✅	✅	✅
Qoder	qoder	✅	✅	✅
CodeBuddy	codebuddy	✅	✅	✅
Antigravity	antigravity	✅	✅	✅
comate	comate	✅	✅	✅
VSCode Insiders	code-insiders	✅	✅	✅
VSCodium	codium	✅	✅	✅
WebStorm	webstorm	✅	✅	✅
Atom	atom	✅	✅	✅
HBuilderX	hbuilder	✅	✅
PhpStorm	phpstorm	✅	✅	✅
Pycharm	pycharm	✅	✅	✅
IntelliJ IDEA	idea	✅	✅	✅
Brackets	brackets	✅	✅	✅
Appcode	appcode	✅
Atom Beta	atom-beta	✅
Clion	clion	✅	✅
Rider	rider	✅	✅	✅
Rubymine	rubymine	✅	✅	✅
Emacs	emacs			✅
Sublime Text	sublime	✅	✅	✅
Notepad++	notepad		✅
Vim	vim			✅
Zed	zed	✅	✅

Which editor supports to be launched by open?

On macOS, some editors support opening with open. Taking VSCode as an example: open "vscode://file/xxx/yy/main.jsx:10:20". This method opens the editor quickly and provides a good experience, so it is strongly recommended that users set type: 'open' when using following editors:

• vscode
• cursor
• windsurf
• antigravity
• qoder (Not CN version)
• comate (Not CN version)
• trae (Not CN version)
• codebuddy (Not CN version)

✍️ Custom editor

There are two ways to specify the editor:

• Specify the editor with IDE encoding name in launchIDE.

launchIDE({ 
  file: '/Users/zh-lx/Desktop/test.ts', 
  line: 10,
  column: 20,
  editor: 'cursor' 
});

• Specify the editor with IDE encoding name in .env.local file by CODE_EDITOR.

CODE_EDITOR=cursor

If you use the editor outside the supported list, you can specify the editor by its executable file path, please refer to Other Editor.