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Command Line Interface (CLI)
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On this page there are 13 sections

Command Line Interface (CLI)

Visual Studio Code has a powerful command-line interface built-in that lets you control how you launch the editor. You can open files, install extensions, change the display language, and output diagnostics through command-line options (switches).

command line example [command line example]

If you are looking for how to run command-line tools inside VS Code, see the Integrated Terminal.

Command line help

To get an overview of the VS Code command-line interface, open a terminal or command prompt and type code --help. You will see the version, usage example, and list of command line options.

command line help [command line help]

Launching from command line

You can launch VS Code from the command line to quickly open a file, folder, or project. Typically, you open VS Code within the context of a folder. To do this, from an open terminal or command prompt, navigate to your project folder and type code .:

launch VS Code [launch VS Code]

Note

Users on macOS must first run a command (Shell Command: Install 'code' command in PATH) to add VS Code executable to the PATH environment variable. Read the macOS setup guide for help.

Windows and Linux installations should add the VS Code binaries location to your system path. If this isn't the case, you can manually add the location to the Path environment variable ($PATH on Linux). For example, on Windows, the default VS Code binaries location is AppData\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code\bin. To review platform-specific setup instructions, see Setup.

Note

If you are using the VS Code Insiders preview, you launch your Insiders build with code-insiders.

Core CLI options

Here are optional arguments you can use when starting VS Code at the command line via code:

Argument Description
-h or --help Print usage
-v or --version Print VS Code version (for example, 1.22.2), GitHub commit ID, and architecture (for example, x64).
-n or --new-window Opens a new session of VS Code instead of restoring the previous session (default).
-r or --reuse-window Forces opening a file or folder in the last active window.
- Read from stdin and open it in VS Code (for example, 'echo Hello World
-g or --goto When used with file:line{:character}, opens a file at a specific line and optional character position. This argument is provided since some operating systems permit : in a file name.
-d or --diff <file1> <file2> Open a file difference editor. Requires two file paths as arguments.
-m or --merge <path1> <path2> <base> <result> Perform a three-way merge by providing paths for two modified versions of a file, the common origin of both modified versions, and the output file to save merge results.
-w or --wait Wait for the files to be closed before returning.
--locale <locale> Set the display language (locale) for the VS Code session. (for example, en-US or zh-TW)

launch with locale [launch with locale]

Opening Files and Folders

Sometimes you will want to open or create a file. If the specified file does not exist, VS Code will create them for you along with any new intermediate folders:

code chat Find and fix all untyped variables

The chat subcommand has the following command-line options:

  • -m, --mode <mode>: The custom agent to use for the chat session. Available options: ask, edit, agent, or the identifier of a custom agent. Defaults to agent.
  • -a, --add-file <path>: Add files as context to the chat session.
  • --maximize: Maximize the chat session view.
  • -r, --reuse-window: Use the last active window for the chat session.
  • -n, --new-window: Open an empty window for the chat session.

The chat subcommand also supports piping input from stdin by passing - at the end of the command. For example:

# First instance with its own environment
code ~/project1 --user-data-dir ~/vscode-data-project1

# Second instance with different environment
code ~/project2 --user-data-dir ~/vscode-data-project2

Each instance with a different --user-data-dir will maintain its own:

  • Environment variables
  • Settings and preferences
  • Installed extensions
  • UI state and layout
Note

When using --user-data-dir, you'll need to reinstall extensions for each user data directory, as extensions are stored separately.

Create remote tunnel

VS Code integrates with other remote environments to become even more powerful and flexible. Our goal is to provide a cohesive experience that allows you to manage both local and remote machines from one, unified CLI.

The Visual Studio Code Remote - Tunnels extension lets you connect to a remote machine, like a desktop PC or VM, via a secure tunnel. Tunneling securely transmits data from one network to another. You can then securely connect to that machine from anywhere, without the requirement of SSH.

We've built functionality into the code CLI that will initiate tunnels on remote machines. You can run:

vscode://file/{full path to project}/

vscode://file/c:/myProject/

Open a file

vscode://file/{full path to file}:line:column

vscode://file/c:/myProject/package.json:5:10

Open the Settings Editor

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