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sync vscode

Merge VS Code configuration files from all sub-repos into the root .vscode folder.

Usage

multi sync vscode [SUBCOMMAND]

Description

The sync vscode command merges VS Code configuration files from all sub-repositories into your workspace's root .vscode folder. This allows you to have unified debug configurations, tasks, settings, and extension recommendations across all your repos.

Running sync vscode without a subcommand merges all configuration files.

Subcommands

sync vscode settings

multi sync vscode settings

Merges settings.json from all repositories into the root .vscode/settings.json.

Behavior:

  • Settings from sub-repos are combined with root settings
  • Later repos override earlier ones for conflicting keys
  • Use the skipSettings configuration option to exclude specific settings keys from being merged

Example: If repo-a has "editor.tabSize": 2 and repo-b has "editor.tabSize": 4, the merged result will use 4 (from the later repo).

sync vscode launch

multi sync vscode launch

Merges launch.json from all repositories into the root .vscode/launch.json.

Behavior:

  • Launch configurations are prefixed with the repository name to avoid conflicts
  • A configuration named "Debug Server" in api-repo becomes "api-repo: Debug Server"
  • All configurations from all repos are available in the unified launch menu
  • Merges .vscode/launch.shared.json from the workspace root for workspace-level compounds that span repos
  • Creates a master compound that includes all required configurations/compounds

Marking launch configurations as required:

You can mark launch configurations or compounds as required in two ways:

  1. Per-repo configuration in multi.json (recommended): 

    {
  "repos": [
    {
      "url": "https://github.com/org/backend",
      "requiredCompounds": ["Django"],
      "requiredLaunchConfigurations": ["Debug Server"]
    }
  ]
}

  2. In the launch definition: Add "required": true to the configuration or compound in the sub-repo's launch.json (note: this may cause VS Code schema validation warnings)

Using launch.shared.json for workspace-level compounds:

Create a .vscode/launch.shared.json file in your workspace root to define compounds that span multiple sub-repos. This is the recommended way to create debug configurations that launch services from different repos together:

{
  "compounds": [
    {
      "name": "Full Stack",
      "configurations": [
        "api: Django Server",
        "web: Next.js Dev"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

The contents of launch.shared.json are merged into the final launch.json after all sub-repo configurations are collected, so you can reference any configuration from any repo by its prefixed name.

sync vscode tasks

multi sync vscode tasks

Merges tasks.json from all repositories into the root .vscode/tasks.json.

Behavior:

  • Tasks are prefixed with the repository name
  • Merges .vscode/tasks.shared.json from the workspace root for workspace-level tasks that span repos
  • Creates a master compound task that runs all tasks marked as required in parallel
  • Useful for running build tasks across all repos simultaneously

Marking tasks as required:

You can mark tasks as required in two ways:

  1. Per-repo configuration in multi.json (recommended): Add a requiredTasks array to the repo config listing task labels that should be required: 

    {
  "repos": [
    {
      "url": "https://github.com/org/frontend",
      "requiredTasks": ["React: Dev"]
    }
  ]
}

  2. In the task definition: Add "required": true to the task in the sub-repo's tasks.json (note: this may cause VS Code schema validation warnings)

Using tasks.shared.json for workspace-level tasks:

Create a .vscode/tasks.shared.json file in your workspace root to define tasks that span multiple sub-repos or reference tasks from different repos:

{
  "tasks": [
    {
      "label": "Build All",
      "dependsOn": ["api: Build", "web: Build"],
      "dependsOrder": "parallel",
      "problemMatcher": []
    }
  ]
}

The contents of tasks.shared.json are merged into the final tasks.json after all sub-repo tasks are collected, so you can reference any task from any repo by its prefixed label.

sync vscode extensions

multi sync vscode extensions

Merges extensions.json recommendations from all repositories into the root .vscode/extensions.json.

Behavior:

  • Combines all extension recommendations from all repos
  • Duplicates are removed while preserving order
  • Ensures your workspace recommends all extensions needed by any sub-repo

Examples

# Merge all VS Code configurations
multi sync vscode

# Only merge settings
multi sync vscode settings

# Only merge launch configurations
multi sync vscode launch

# Only merge tasks
multi sync vscode tasks

# Only merge extension recommendations
multi sync vscode extensions

Configuration

You can configure VS Code syncing behavior in multi.json:

{
  "vscode": {
    "skipSettings": ["workbench.colorCustomizations", "editor.fontSize"]
  },
  "repos": [
    {
      "url": "https://github.com/org/repo",
      "skipVSCode": true,
      "requiredTasks": ["Dev Server", "Watch"],
      "requiredCompounds": ["Django"]
    }
  ]
}
  • skipSettings - Array of settings keys to exclude from merging
  • skipVSCode - Per-repo option to exclude a repo from VS Code config merging
  • requiredTasks - Per-repo array of task labels to include in the master compound task
  • requiredCompounds - Per-repo array of compound names to include in the master launch compound
  • requiredLaunchConfigurations - Per-repo array of launch configuration names to include in the master launch compound