How can you export the Visual Studio Code extension list?

Question

I need to send all my installed extensions to my colleagues. How can I export them?

The extension manager seems to do nothing... It won't install any extension.

Gangboard

You can package an extension pack into a .vsix file and distribute this file. How to do this is described here #58513766 – Elaterite

@Elaterite That answer is actually much more useful here than on that question (which specifically asks for a cli solution, as your disclaimer admits). Probably worth hitting edit on that one and copy and pasting that text here. It is a useful alternative [if it works; haven't tried yet]. (Actually the answer is 100% on the command line, but isn't batch, which is probably what you & OP had in mind; works perfectly here, though.) – Ashore

For a bash solution, see https://mcmap.net/q/57184/-how-can-you-export-the-visual-studio-code-extension-list. – Annelid

Answer 1

Automatic

If you are looking forward to an easy one-stop tool to do it for you, I would suggest you to look into the Settings Sync extension.

It will allow

1. Export of your configuration and extensions
2. Share it with coworkers and teams. You can update the configuration. Their settings will auto updated.

Manual

1. Make sure you have the most current version of Visual Studio Code. If you install via a company portal, you might not have the most current version.

2. On machine A

   Unix:

   code --list-extensions | xargs -L 1 echo code --install-extension
   

   Windows (PowerShell, e. g. using Visual Studio Code's integrated Terminal):

   code --list-extensions | % { "code --install-extension $_" }
   

3. Copy and paste the echo output to machine B

   Sample output

   code --install-extension Angular.ng-template
   code --install-extension DSKWRK.vscode-generate-getter-setter
   code --install-extension EditorConfig.EditorConfig
   code --install-extension HookyQR.beautify
   

Please make sure you have the code command line installed. For more information, please visit Command Line Interface (CLI).

Embryectomy

Can someone provide a Windows friendly version of this command? xargs seems to be unique to UNIX. – Necrophobia

@Necrophobia If you use GitHub, you probably have Git Bash installed on your Windows laptop/pc. You can use Unix/Mac commands in that - that how i got it working – Veal

for anybody who thinks they need a windows version, please note, you are supposed to run this from the vscode command line, you can get it by hitting Ctrl+`, then just paste it in! – Chiropractic

I used the Ctrl+` with --list-extensions command above to get my settings out of my windows vscode and then used Ctrl+` to paste in the code --install results into my vscode instance on Linux (over RDP). It just worked. Downloaded and installed all of them. Awesome – Hallerson

I'd also appreciate a windows-friendly non-xargs version of this I'm stuck on a PC without admin rights, and they haven't set up bash on these machines :/ – Berberidaceous

On Mac OSX I had to use the exact code executable location: /Applications/Visual\ Studio\ Code.app/Contents/Resources/app/bin/code ~ I have now just created an alias to it in my .bash_profile on all my Mac's – Tangency

This should work under Windows PowerShell: code --list-extensions | % { "code --install-extension $_" } (I also edited this into the answer) – Shelbashelbi

@Tangency Follow Benny's link to how to set up the command-line. Short answer: open command palette in Code and type "shell command" and there will be a command to add "code" to path. – Pocket

copy to install.sh, in git bash start install.sh – Abnegate

You can pipe the output to a file so you don't have to copy from the terminal like: code --list-extensions | xargs -L 1 echo code --install-extension > vsc-extensions.txt – Hitchcock

What is about Settings Sync from MS – Gaynell

@Chiropractic on Windows it is ctrl + ö, german.. to all: code ... in terminal opens a new editor with the welcome. But does not print the extensions to the terminal. – Gorton

I am on windows 10powershell 5 and code -h or any other parameter opens a new instance but not prints the result to stdout. Should I ask a new question? – Gorton

Pure batch file: @for /f %%l in ('code --list-extensions') do @echo code --install-extension %%l Or on command-line (replacing %% by %): @for /f %l in ('code --list-extensions') do @echo code --install-extension %l – Tangible

From a Windows batch .bat/.cmd file: PowerShell -Command "code --list-extensions | % { """""code --install-extension $_""""" }" (quote escaping explained in #31576284) – Tangible

If you are on Windows, type code.cmd --list-extensions instead of just code. The problem is C:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code (or vscode install folder) has code.exe which opens vscode and is getting called. You actually need to run C:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code\bin\code.cmd, which is the command line utility script. – Tamarin

@Benny Could you update your answer to show the instructions for Windows users to type code.cmd instead of just code? – Tamarin

share as links: code --list-extensions | xargs -L 1 echo https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName= – Hemophilia

To get code to work, type cmd + shift + p in VSCode and look for Shell Command: Install 'code' command in PATH – Goya

If you have the old extensions directory files & folders, but don't have access to the old OS you copied them from (and so can't run code --list-extensions to get the list to pass to code --install-extensions, here is a way to reformat the directory names (removing the version part) and reinstall them: for EXT in $( ls ~/old/.vscode/extensions/ ); do NAME=$( echo $EXT | perl -ne 's/\-[\d\.]+$//; print "$_"' ); code --install-extension $NAME; done – Moo

@Tamarin why do we need to use code.cmd ? code already works – Cornhusking

@Cornhusking The problem is C:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code (or vscode install folder) has code.exe which opens vscode and is getting called. You actually need to run C:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code\bin\code.cmd, which is the command line utility script. – Tamarin

@Tamarin thanks but it does not open vscode in my computer. I run windows 11. what is your os version? – Cornhusking

@Cornhusking I run Windows 10 and this was over a year ago. I no longer use Settings Sync. I use profiles. Please see my answer below and here. – Tamarin

The Settings Sync link is depreciated, see here instead. – Ricebird

Answer 2

I've needed to do this myself a few times - especially when installing on another machine.

Common questions will give you the location of your folder

Visual Studio Code looks for extensions under your extensions folder .vscode/extensions. Depending on your platform it is located:

Windows %USERPROFILE%\.vscode\extensions
Mac ~/.vscode/extensions
Linux ~/.vscode/extensions

That should show you a list of the extensions.

I've also had success using Visual Studio Code Settings Sync Extension to sync settings to GitHub gist.

In the latest release of Visual Studio Code (May 2016), it is now possible to list the installed extensions on the command line:

code --list-extensions

Isolda

For me (linux, code Version 1.7.1) it does not work... it just starts VS Code. – Inflection

@Inflection I never tried on Linux but I think this is the same: I first had the same issue you had, until I realized the command line utility is in fact under the bin folder of the application installation. If you look at its content you will see it calls the main executable but telling it to execute the CLI instead. – Cordiality

FYI you'll need to run 'Shell command: Install 'code' command in PATH' from the command palette (cmd/ctrl-shift-p) within VS Code and then run the above code in your terminal to allow this to work. – Pejsach

@vanthome, on windows, find the code.cmd file and try it with this. Worked for me. On wsl, Debian, I get with code.cmd: /mnt/c/Program Files/Microsoft VS Code/bin/code.cmd: 1: /mnt/c/Program Files/Microsoft VS Code/bin/code.cmd: @echo: not found. code.exe in wsl debian starts the programme and says Ignoring option list-extensions: not supported for code.. – Gorton

@carlin, I do not understand. Why using the command palette or F1? – Gorton

The trick is running bin/code (Linux, shell script) and bin/code.cmd (Windows, batch file). This is a subfolder of your vscode install directory. It runs electron as node and executes a cli javascript file. – Tamarin

code --list-extensions still works on VSCode, 1.74.2 at DEC 22, thanks – Nucleonics

This might be a really bad idea, but I was able to replace the new extensions directory with the old one and Visual Studio code loaded the extensions fine. Just wanted to document that in case anyone wondered. – Brande

Answer 3

Windows (PowerShell) version of Benny's answer

Machine A:

In the Visual Studio Code PowerShell terminal:

code --list-extensions > extensions.list

Machine B:

1. Copy extension.list to the machine B

2. In the Visual Studio Code PowerShell terminal:

    cat extensions.list |% { code --install-extension $_}
   

Skyscraper

This just launches a new code window with the Welcome tab for me. – Berberidaceous

This answer works perfectly for me -- I had no issues at all getting everything installed. – Frazzle

This is my preferred answer, because it doesn't rely on xargs (compared with the higher rated answer). Now if only "code" were recognized as a command ... sigh (it's always something) – Glassco

This worked perfectly in creating my .list file and showing me what extensions I currently have rocking. I just needed the list as a reference. Didn't need to do the copy process. Many thanks. – Adler

Simple, low effort and effective. This should be the answer. – Twelvemonth

On Windows, run code.cmd instead of code if you are getting a new window. code.cmd is in the bin/ subdirectory of your vscode install folder. On Linux, run bin/code (which is a shell script) – Tamarin

Answer 4

I have developed an extension which will synchronise your all Visual Studio Code settings across multiple instances.

Key Features

1. Use your GitHub account token.
2. Easy to upload and download on one click.
3. Saves all settings and snippets files.
4. Upload key: Shift + Alt + U
5. Download key: Shift + Alt + D
6. Type Sync In Order to View all sync options

It synchronises the

1. Settings file
2. Keybinding file
3. Launch file
4. Snippets folder
5. Visual Studio Code extensions

Detail Documentation Source

Visual Studio Code Sync ReadMe

Download here: Visual Studio Code Settings Sync

Tuberculate

does this automatically installs synced extensions? – Coom

Yes! Try that and let me know – Tuberculate

what exception you are getting in the developer console ? open a github issue in the repo and we will see – Tuberculate

Hey, i used your extension, it is great, but i dont know how to share my extensions list with my friend. – Delegate

@Delegate - Check this link : shanalikhan.github.io/2016/09/02/… – Tuberculate

It showed the message ` Delete your private GIST and create a public GIST? ` It would be nice if it will create a public GIST everytime i use the feature and keep my private GIST all the time. thanks @ShanKhan , great work – Delegate

It will not delete the gist from github but only from the extension and create the public gist so when ever you need to configure the private gist you can just add the ID and sync again. Thanks for the suggest i will change this text in the menu. – Tuberculate

Answer 5

For Linux

On the old machine:

code --list-extensions > vscode-extensions.list

On the new machine:

cat vscode-extensions.list | xargs -L 1 code --install-extension

---

For Windows:

On the old machine:

code --list-extensions > vscode-extensions.list

On the new machine:

Get-Content vscode-extensions.list | ForEach-Object { code --install-extension $_ }

Gemmule

cat: vscode-extensions.list: No such file or directory – Torietorii

It seems you can improve your answer by specifying that the vscode-extensions.list file must be copied from the old machine to the new machine. – Cleancut

How to I export the extension list, on wsl or wsl2? I am using Vscode with remote-wsl to alpine and ubuntu – Gaynell

Answer 6

I used the following command to copy my extensions from Visual Studio Code to Visual Studio Code insiders:

code --list-extensions | xargs -L 1 code-insiders --install-extension

The argument -L 1 allows us to execute the command code-insiders --install-extension once for each input line generated by code --list-extensions.

Younts

This is very useful for the init.sh in my dotfiles repo. I first install extensions from a file and then write all currently installed extensions to the file. Only downside is I would have to delete the file if I want to remove an extension but it should work if I add one. – Diminution

Answer 7

If using bash, you can use the following commands:

Export extensions

code --list-extensions |
xargs -L 1 echo code --install-extension |
sed "s/$/ --force/" |
sed "\$!s/$/ \&/" > install-extensions.bash

With bash alias, just run eve:

# eve - export vscode extensions
alias eve='code --list-extensions |
xargs -L 1 echo code --install-extension |
sed "s/$/ --force/" |
sed "\$!s/$/ \&/" > install-extensions.bash'

Install extensions

. install-extensions.bash

Annelid

command must be run from VSCODE terminal -- for extended $PATH that includes code command – Manvell

@Du. I was trying to replicate vscode extensions between remote machines -- Remote SSH from Mac with updated VSCODE -- your solution is very stright and usefull – Manvell

Answer 8

Dump extensions:

code --list-extensions > extensions.txt

Install extensions with Bash (Linux, OS X and WSL):

cat extensions.txt | xargs code --list-extensions {}

Install extensions on Windows with PowerShell:

cat extensions.txt |% { code --install-extension $_}

Boatload

Sadly this doesn't work. It uses --list-extensions, which doesn't install, so it should be something line --install-extension but when changed to that it still doesn't work – Bicycle

On Mac, not working even with "--install-extension". – Hiding

Answer 9

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/extension-gallery#_workspace-recommended-extensions

A better way to share extension list is to create workspace-based extension set for your colleagues.

After generating a list of extensions via code --list-extensions | xargs -L 1 echo code --install-extension (check your $PATH contains Visual Studio Code entry C:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code\bin\ before running code commands), run Extensions: Configure Recommended Extensions (Workspace Folder) Visual Studio Code command (Ctrl + Shift + P) and put extensions into the generated .vscode/extensions.json file:

{
    "recommendations": [
        "eg2.tslint",
        "dbaeumer.vscode-eslint",
        "msjsdiag.debugger-for-chrome"
    ]
}

Pigpen

This should've been the accepted answer... – Carbaugh

Answer 10

Generate a Windows command file (batch) for installing extensions:

for /F "tokens=*" %i in ('code --list-extensions')
   do @echo call code --install-extension %i >> install.cmd

Mugwump

Answer 11

Open the Visual Studio Code console and write:

code --list-extensions (or code-insiders --list-extensions if Visual Studio Code insider is installed)

Then share the command line with colleagues:

code --install-extension {ext1} --install-extension {ext2} --install-extension {extN} replacing {ext1}, {ext2}, ... , {extN} with the extension you listed

For Visual Studio Code insider: code-insiders --install-extension {ext1} ...

If they copy/paste it in Visual Studio Code command-line terminal, they'll install the shared extensions.

More information on command-line-extension-management.

Diagenesis

Answer 12

Use Visual Studio Code's Profiles feature (introduced February 2023) to share settings, including installed extensions, with colleagues using a named Profile.

From VS Code:

1. Invoke the command: Profiles: Export Profile
2. In the Profiles view, review the Settings, UI State and Extensions:

3. From the Profiles view, click the Export button
4. Enter a name for the profile - if prompted
5. Select the GitHub gist save option
6. Once saved, you will see the following:

7. Press the Copy Link button to save the URL

In the Browser:

1. Visit the GitHub gist site where you should see a new Gist with your profile name:
2. Select the new Gist and click the 'Edit' button
3. In edit-mode, press the 'Make Public' button

Share and Import:

1. Share the URL you copied earlier with colleagues who can use the Profiles: Import Profile command.
2. The imported Profiles is associated with the current workspaces.
3. Profiles can later be switched, renamed etc. from within VS Code

Collage

Answer 13

How to export your Visual Studio Code extensions from the terminal. Here is git for that. Maybe this helps somebody.

How to export your Visual Studio Code extensions from the terminal

Note: Unix-like systems only.

1. Export your extensions to a shell file:

code --list-extensions | sed -e 's/^/code --install-extension /' > my_vscode_extensions.sh

2. Verify your extensions installer file:

less my_vscode_extesions.sh

Install your extensions (optional)

Run your my_vscode_extensions.sh using a Bash command:

bash my_vscode_extensions.sh

Tenuis

What do you mean by "Here is git for that."? – Shephard

Answer 14

How to share VS Code extensions without using plugins, gists, sharing files or forcing users to use a multi-line command

If you need to send all your extensions to install on another computer, you can install multiple extensions with a single-line command in this format:

code --install-extension dakshmiglani.hex-to-rgba --install-extension techer.open-in-browser

How to create the single-line command:

1. In your terminal, run the following command:

code --list-extensions

2. Copy your list of extensions from the terminal and paste your copied list into a new document.

3. Open a Search and Replace prompt (CTRL+R on Windows) and do a REGEX search for:

(.+)(\n?)

4. Replace with

 --install-extension $1

(Don't omit the space at the beginning.)

5. Add the word code to the beginning of the resulting text and you'll have a very large command that you can hand off to your colleagues to run in their terminal.

code --install-extension hbenl.vscode-test-explorer --install-extension maciejdems.add-to-gitignore --install-extension techer.open-in-browser --install-extension traBpUkciP.vscode-npm-scripts ...

Reverso

Answer 15

There is an Extension Manager extension, that may help. It seems to allow to install a set of extensions specified in the settings.json.

Venal

I tried it but that plugin won't install jshint that I tried to add to my settings file... – Gangboard

Answer 16

Benny's answer on Windows with the Linux subsystem:

code --list-extensions | wsl xargs -L 1 echo code --install-extension

Scutage

Answer 17

1. code --list-extensions > list

2. sed -i 's/.*/\"&\",/' list

3. Copy contents of file list and add to file .vscode/extensions.json in the "recommendations" section.

4. If extensions.json doesn't exist then create a file with the following contents

   {
       "recommendations": [
           // Add content of file list here
       ]
   }
   

5. Share the extensions.json file and ask another user to add to the .vscode folder. Visual Studio Code will prompt for installation of extensions.

Beirut

Answer 18

Now there's a feature still in preview that allows you to sign in with a Microsoft or GitHub account and have your settings synced without any additional extension. It's pretty simple and straigh-forward. You can learn more here.

The things you can sync.

Psychometry

Answer 19

I opened the Visual Studio Code extensions folder and executed:

find * -maxdepth 2 -name "package.json" | xargs grep "name"

That gives you a list from which you can extract the extension names.

Collete

Answer 20

Under windows typically I need to run

cd C:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code\bin
code.cmd --list-extensions

What you don't do is run the code.exe directly under C:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code\

Rybinsk

vscode is not installed in program files nor in program files (x86) – Torietorii

It might be if you chose 'system setup' instead of 'user setup'. But yes, by default it will be in C:\Users\{Username}\AppData\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code – Transilluminate

Answer 21

If you intend to share workspace extensions configuration across a team, you should look into the Recommended Extensions feature of Visual Studio Code.

To generate this file, open the command pallet > Configure Recommended Extensions (Workspace Folder). From there, if you wanted to get all of your current extensions and put them in here, you could use the --list-extensions stuff mentioned in other answers, but add some AWK script to make it paste-able into a JSON array (you can get more or less advanced with this as you please - this is just a quick example):

code --list-extensions | awk '{ print "\""$0"\"\,"}'

The advantage of this method is that your team-wide workspace configuration can be checked into source control. With this file present in a project, when the project is opened Visual Studio Code will notify the user that there are recommended extensions to install (if they don't already have them) and can install them all with a single button press.

Heiduc

Answer 22

For those that are wondering how to copy your extensions from Visual Studio Code to Visual Studio Code insiders, use this modification of Benny's answer:

code --list-extensions | xargs -L 1 echo code-insiders --install-extension

Villagomez

Answer 23

On Windows using PowerShell script, including a 'friendlyName' which better matches the extension name as it appears in Visual Studio Code interface (which code --list-extensions doesn't do):

<#
.SYNOPSIS
    Gets installed Visual Studio Code extensions in a friendly format.

.DESCRIPTION
    Gets installed Visual Studio Code extensions in a friendly format.

.INPUTS
    None. You cannot pipe objects to this.

.OUTPUTS
    Installed Visual Studio Code extensions in a friendly format.

.EXAMPLE
    PS> .\Get-VSCodeExtensions.ps1

.NOTES
    Authors: John Bentley, Andrew D. Bond <https://github.com/andrewdbond/>

    Updated: 2023-03-22

    Latest:
    How can you export the Visual Studio Code extension list?: https://mcmap.net/q/57184/-how-can-you-export-the-visual-studio-code-extension-list
#>

$extensions = (Get-Item $HOME/.vscode/extensions/*/package.json).ForEach({
    Get-Content $_ | ConvertFrom-Json | Select-Object `
        @{name='friendlyName';expr={if($_.PSObject.Properties['displayName']) {$_.displayName} else { $_.name}}},
        @{name='publisherAndName';expr={"$($_.publisher).$($_.name)"}},
        description,
        homepage,
        @{name='repository.url';expr={$_.repository.url}},
        version
}) | Sort-Object friendlyName

Write-Output $extensions
# Optional: Set clipboard with the results to paste into Google Sheets, Excel, etc.
$extensions | ConvertTo-Csv | Set-Clipboard

Example output:

friendlyName     : Pylance
publisherAndName : ms-python.vscode-pylance
description      : A performant, feature-rich language server for Python in VS Code
homepage         : 
repository.url   : https://github.com/microsoft/pylance-release
version          : 2023.3.20

friendlyName     : Python
publisherAndName : ms-python.python
description      : IntelliSense (Pylance), Linting, Debugging (multi-threaded, remote), Jupyter Notebooks, code formatting,  
                   refactoring, unit tests, and more.
homepage         : https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode-python
repository.url   : https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode-python
version          : 2023.4.1

Instructions (Windows only):

1. Paste the above script code into a PowerShell terminal

Or

1. Copy the above script code and save it somewhere as Get-VSCodeExtensions.ps1
2. Open a PowerShell terminal at the directory where you saved Get-VSCodeExtensions.ps1 (cd might help here)
3. Run the script from the PowerShell terminal with .\Get-VSCodeExtensions.ps1

Boyett

Below PublisherAndName = ... I put Description = $json.description to get the text description in the output as well. – Odelet

@NathanGoings good idea. Your suggestion probably helps when sharing such a list with other devs to communicate 'this is what I use, pick from it what you like'. I edited in your line to the code. It will be easy for a dev to delete it, if it doesn't suit their tastes. – Boyett

Answer 24

If you would like to transfer all the extensions from code to code-insiders or vice versa, here is what worked for me from Git Bash.

code --list-extensions | xargs -L 1 code-insiders --install-extension

This will install all the missing extensions and skip the installed ones. After that, you will need to close and reopen Visual Studio Code.

Similarly, you can transfer extensions from code-insiders to code with the following:

code-insiders --list-extensions | xargs -L 1 code --install-extension

Purity

Answer 25

File > Preferences > Turn on Settings Sync Will sync your VS Code settings across different devices.

I'm using VS Code Version 1.74.0

Starr

No can do. I cannot use my account on other dev's stations. – Gangboard

Answer 26

For Linux/Mac only, export the installed Visual Studio Code extensions in the form of an installation script. It's a Z shell (Zsh) script, but it may run in Bash as well.

https://gist.github.com/jvlad/6c92178bbfd1906b7d83c69780ee4630

Aparejo

This is actually good, why the negative vote? – Din

Answer 27

I create an extension for this problem. This extension allows you to export a list of all currently installed extensions in your Visual Studio Code. The exported list is saved in a JSON file that can be imported later to restore the extensions.

How can you export the Visual Studio Code extension list?

(Ctrl+Shift+P or Cmd+Shift+P) and type

Export Extensions

Import Extensions

Viniferous

Answer 28

This method uses helps install existing extensions on a new system (with reference to an existing system) using .vsix package

It requires Yeoman VS Code extension generator and vsce (or nodejs to install these).

1. On the existing machine, generate an extension pack (more details here)

npm install -g yo generator-code

yo code

First command installs Yeoman VS Code generator, second creates the extension pack (choose default options as below. The created package.json contains all extensions in the pack, you can modify that list)

2. On the existing machine, package the extension pack created above into a .vsix file

npm install -g vsce
 
vsce package

First command installs vsce, second packages the extension into a .vsix file (run from the root of the extension pack created above)

3. On the new system, install the .vsix file

code --install-extension extension-pack-0.0.1.vsix

4. Open VS Code on the new system, access this extension, install all required extensions via GUI

PS: If you are going to publish the extension pack then consider filling in all details appropriately, while creating it.

Elaterite

Answer 29

The other answers require a working 'source' machine, however if you only have the files from it (e.g. a disk extracted from a device with other failed hardware) then you can recover & reinstall the extensions like this:

1. Find the file path/to/old/userhome/.vscode/extensions/extensions.json (help) from the old disk & copy this file to the target machine where you want to reinstall all these extensions.

2. On the new machine, run this in PowerShell:

   cd <the folder where you copied extensions.json>
   (Get-Content extensions.json | ConvertFrom-Json).ForEach({ Write-Host $_.identifier.id }) | % { code --install-extension $_}
   

3. Job done!

Transilluminate