VS Code Desktop pre-install extensions
Hi everyone! I have Coder installed on a on-premises redhat VM and I'm currently trying to configure pre-installed extensios in a Docker Container starter template.
I followed this guide here to add the extensions .vsix files to the image and install it in the startup script https://coder.com/docs/user-guides/workspace-access/vscode#adding-extensions-to-custom-images.
However, by doing that only the code-server (web browser) had the extensions installed, the VS Code Desktop option starts without them.
I saw at the end of the doc above that for VS Code Desktop to pick up I should use
code --extensions-dir ~/.vscode-server/extensions --install-extension "$extension", but it does not have code installed.
Since I'm already running it in a sort of an air-gapped environment, I tryed to install it using the --extensions-dir ~/.vscode-server/extensions at the end of the startup script like "code-server --install-extension /vsix/GitHub.copilot.vsix --extensions-dir ~/.vscode-server/extensions" and it seems to have installed in the VS Code Desktop but not on the code-server (web).
I don't have much knowledge of the differences in the code desktop and the server one, but is there a way to install the extensions once and use it with both desktop and server options?Solution:Jump to solution
Hi, thank you both for the response! I will check the possibility to allow in the firewall the installation of the VS Code Web since it may be exactly what we want. The VS Code Web installs the extensions from the microsoft marketplace or from the openvsx?
Also, I managed to make it work by using the
code-server --install-extension ... --extensions-dir in the image and copying the installed extensions folder to the expected location on both the desktop and code-server. Although this is not the intended way to use, it may be useful to validate. Just commenting here cause I didn't find much about this topic that was already posted....10 Replies
What are you creating this issue for?
hey @GR8B8, the
--extensions-dir ~/.vscode-server/extensions flag is for VSCode Desktop, remove it if you want to preinstall extensions for code-serverHey @Phorcys thanks for the fast response! I want to install the extension on both VS Code Desktop and code-server. Is there a way to do this or do I need to run
code-server --install-extension /vsix/GitHub.copilot.vsix --extensions-dir ~/.vscode-server/extensions for VS Code Desktop
and then
code-server --install-extension /vsix/GitHub.copilot.vsix for code-server
to install the same extension for both?yup you'll need to run both
wait hold on
for
code-server you don't need the commands anymore
you can just set the extensions variable in the module call
see "Pre-install Extensions" in https://registry.coder.com/modules/coder/code-server
seems we don't have anything like this for vscode desktop just yet thoughIf you use the VSCode web module and set the extensions variable it should install those extensions for both the VSCode and the VSCode web.
You may have to tinker a bit to make it air gapped friendly
Solution
Hi, thank you both for the response! I will check the possibility to allow in the firewall the installation of the VS Code Web since it may be exactly what we want. The VS Code Web installs the extensions from the microsoft marketplace or from the openvsx?
Also, I managed to make it work by using the
code-server --install-extension ... --extensions-dir in the image and copying the installed extensions folder to the expected location on both the desktop and code-server. Although this is not the intended way to use, it may be useful to validate. Just commenting here cause I didn't find much about this topic that was already posted.yeah VSCode Web uses the Microsoft marketplace
thanks for following up! this will help out other people :)
@Phorcys closed the thread.