When using git at the command line, I am wondering if it is possible to use Visual Studio Code as the default editor, i.e. when creating commit comments and looking at a diff of a file from the command line.
I understand that it won't be possible to use it for doing merges (at least at the minute) but does anyone know if it is possible to use it for looking at diff's, and if so, what command line options would be required in the .gitconfig file to make this happen?
UPDATE 1:
I have tried an approach similar to what I have done for Notepad++ in the past, i.e.
#!/bin/sh
"c:/Program Files (x86)/Notepad++/notepad++.exe" -multiInst -notabbar -nosession -noPlugin "$*"
And used:
#!/bin/sh
"C:\Users\gep13\AppData\Local\Code\app-0.1.0\Code.exe" "$*"
But this results in an error message:
C:\temp\testrepo [master +1 ~0 -0]> git commit
[8660:0504/084217:ERROR:crash_reporter_win.cc(70)] Cannot initialize out-of-process crash handler
Aborting commit due to empty commit message.
C:\temp\testrepo [master +1 ~0 -0]>
Code opens up correctly, with the expected content, but it isn't waiting on the response, i.e. clicking save and closing the window to return to prompt.
UPDATE 2:
I have just heard back from one of the developers working on VSCode. Looks like this functionality currently isn't supported :-(
https://twitter.com/IsidorN/status/595501573880553472
If you are interested in seeing this feature get added, you might want to think about adding your votes here:
UPDATE 3:
I have been reliably informed that this feature has been picked up by the VSCode team, so I am looking forward to a future release that will include it.
UPDATE 4:
Thanks to @f-boucheros comment below, I have been able to get VS Code working as the default editor for commit comments, rebase, etc. I would still like to see if it is possible to use it as the diff tool as well.
UPDATE 5:
As per the accepted answer for the question, this is now possible using the V1.0 release of code.
In the most recent release (v1.0, released in March 2016), you are now able to use VS Code as the default git commit/diff tool. Quoted from the documentations:
Make sure you can run code --help from the command line and you get help. if you do not see help, please follow these steps: Mac: Select Shell Command: Install 'Code' command in path from the Command Palette. Command Palette is what pops up when you press shift + ⌘ + P while inside VS Code. (shift + ctrl + P in Windows) Windows: Make sure you selected Add to PATH during the installation. Linux: Make sure you installed Code via our new .deb or .rpm packages. From the command line, run git config --global core.editor "code --wait" Now you can run git config --global -e and use VS Code as editor for configuring Git. Add the following to enable support for using VS Code as diff tool:
[diff]
tool = default-difftool
[difftool "default-difftool"]
cmd = code --wait --diff $LOCAL $REMOTE
This leverages the new --diff option you can pass to VS Code to compare two files side by side. To summarize, here are some examples of where you can use Git with VS Code: git rebase HEAD~3 -i allows to interactive rebase using VS Code git commit allows to use VS Code for the commit message git add -p followed by e for interactive add git difftool
For what I understand, VSCode is not in AppData anymore.
So Set the default git editor by executing that command in a command prompt window:
git config --global core.editor "'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft VS Code\code.exe' -w"
The parameter -w
, --wait
is to wait for window to be closed before returning. Visual Studio Code is base on Atom Editor. if you also have atom installed execute the command atom --help
. You will see the last argument in the help is wait.
Next time you do a git rebase -i HEAD~3
it will popup Visual Studio Code. Once VSCode is close then Git will take back the lead.
Note: My current version of VSCode is 0.9.2
I hope that help.
-w
and where did you find that documented?
git config --global core.editor "code --wait"
.
git config --global core.editor "code --wait"
or
git config --global core.editor "code -w"
verify with:
git config --global -e
Your configuration will open in Visual Studio Code.
git config --global - e
Another useful option is to set EDITOR
and VISUAL
environment variables. These environment variables are used by many applications and utilities to know what editor to use. Git also uses one of them (depending on Git version) if no core.editor
is set.
You can set it for current session using:
export EDITOR="code --wait"
export VISUAL="$EDITOR"
This way not only git
, but many other applications will use VS Code as an editor.
To make this change permanent, add this to your ~/.profile
for example. See this question for more options.
Another advantage of this approach is that you can set different editors for different cases:
When you working from local terminal. When you are connected through SSH session.
This is useful especially with VS Code (or any other GUI editor) because it just doesn't work without GUI.
On Linux OS, put this into your ~/.profile
:
# Preferred editor for local and remote sessions
if [[ -n $SSH_CONNECTION ]]; then # SSH mode
export EDITOR='vim'
else # Local terminal mode
export EDITOR='code -w'
fi
export VISUAL="$EDITOR"
This way when you use a local terminal, the $SSH_CONNECTION
environment variable will be empty, so the code -w
editor will be used, but when you are connected through SSH, then $SSH_CONNECTION
environment variable will be a non-empty string, so the vim
editor will be used. It is console editor, so it will work even when you are connected through SSH.
For the difference between EDITOR
and VISUAL
environment variables please see this question.
core.editor
config is provided, Git uses the $VISUAL
environment variable, rather than $EDITOR
. So I like this answer, but I also added a line below fi
stating export VISUAL="$EDITOR"
to sync them up.
GIT_EDITOR='code --wait'
worked for me on Ubuntu 22.04; git 2.34.1; VS Code 1.68.1. Setting EDITOR
did not, and setting git config --global core.editor "code --wait"
did not.
You need to use command:
git config --global core.editor "'C:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code\code.exe' -n -w"
Make sure you can start your editor from Git Bash
If you want to use Code.exe with short path, you can do this by adding the following line to your .bash_profile:
alias vscode="C:/Program\ Files/Microsoft\ VS\ Code/Code.exe"
And now, you can call it using only vscode
command(or whatever you named it)
Some additional info:
Setup will add Visual Studio Code to your %PATH%, so from the console you can type 'code' to open VS Code on that folder. You will need to restart your console after the installation for the change to the %PATH% environmental variable to take effect.
-n
is short for --new-window
making git open up a new editor window, and -w
is short for --wait
, making git wait for you to close the window again. This is the only answer that works for me, because I if I already have VS Code open --wait
will not work without --new-window
.
I opened up my .gitconfig
and amended it with:
[core]
editor = 'C:/Users/miqid/AppData/Local/Code/app-0.1.0/Code.exe'
That did it for me (I'm on Windows 8).
However, I noticed that after I tried an arbitrary git commit
that in my Git Bash console I see the following message:
[9168:0504/160114:INFO:renderer_main.cc(212)] Renderer process started
Unsure of what the ramifications of this might be.
app-0.1.0/resources/app/env.js
appears to contain a few command-line flags that the Code executable takes. None suggest behaviour equivalent to that of -multiInst
though.
--wait
flag, and the --new-window
flag is also highly recommended, so that the commit msg/diff/whatever doesn't just show up as a new tab in an already-open editor, requiring you to close files you may still be working on in order to signal git that you're done editing.
Good news! At the time of writing, this feature has already been implemented in the 0.10.12-insiders release and carried out through 0.10.14-insiders. Hence we are going to have it in the upcoming version 1.0 Release of VS Code.
Implementation Ref: Implement -w/--wait command line arg
Run this command in your Mac Terminal app
git config --global core.editor "/Applications/Visual\ Studio\ Code.app/Contents/Resources/app/bin/code"
In addition of export EDITOR="code --wait"
, note that, with VSCode v1.47 (June 2020), those diff editors will survice a VSCode reload/restart.
See issue 99290:
with commit 1428d44, diff editors now have a chance to survive reloads and this works OK unless the diff editor on a git resource is opened as the active one:
(and commit 24f1b69 fixes that)
GitPad sets your current text editor as the default editor for Git.
My default editor for .txt
files in Windows 10 is Visual Studio Code and running GitPad once made it the default editor for Git. I haven't experienced the problems mentioned in the question (Git waits until VS Code window is closed in my case).
(The link for the .exe
file didn't work for me, you may need to compile the source yourself.)
Right click
> Open with
> Chose another app
. I would expect it to register itself on setup (and update the registry with every update so shell can find it) but I couldn't find anything other than "Open with Code" context menu item in the registry. So I really don't have a clearer answer for this, sorry.
Just want to add these back slashes to previous answers, I am on Windows 10 CMD, and it doesn't work without back slashes before the spaces.
git config --global core.editor "C:\\Users\\your_user_name\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Microsoft\ VS\ Code\\Code.exe"
what command line options would be required in the .gitconfig file to make this happen?
I had to add this to my .gitconfig file for git-lense to work:
[core]
# Make sure that interactive rebases open correctly with vs code
editor = code -w -n
-n
is optional – as Alex mentioned below it's short for --new-window
and I find it helpful :)
git config --global core.editor "code -w -n"
-w
is short for --wait
I added git bash
in vscode terminal
as default If you are lazy like me. Then I advise you to do the same as me.
Step1: Open setting: Ctrl + ,
Step2: search .json --> choose file setting.json
Step3: Paste the code at the end of the file but in brackets '}' "terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.windows": "gitbash", "terminal.integrated.shell.windows":"E:\app\git\Git\bin\bash.exe",
Im not sure you can do this, however you can try these additions in your gitconfig file.
Try to replace the kdiff3 from these values to point to visual studio code executable.
[merge] tool = kdiff3 [mergetool "kdiff3"] path = C:/Program Files/KDiff3/kdiff3.exe keepBackup = false trustExitCode = false
I set up Visual Studio Code as a default to open .txt file. And next I did use simple command: git config --global core.editor "'C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Code\app-0.7.10\Code.exe\'"
. And everything works pretty well.
on windows 10 using the 64bit insiders edition the command should be:
git config --global core.editor "'C:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code Insiders\bin\code-insiders.cmd'"
you can also rename the 'code-insiders.cmd' to 'code.cmd' in the 'Program Files' directory, in this way you can now use the command 'code .' to start editing the files on the . directory
In 2022 on Windows 10 you should have next path:
git config --global core.editor "'C:\Users\<your username here>\AppData\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code\code.exe' -w"
Success story sharing
--new-window
to the command to be helpful. This way the git operation will open in a new window.Ctrl+Shift+P
? Mine is not working (nocode --help
available) and i do not understand what means: "Make sure you selected Add to PATH during the installation" What should i do to check it? Can someone please help me?"files.hotExit": "off"
at the bottom of your configgit config core.editor "code -n --wait"
with VS Code 1.17.2, running from external command line. Bothcode
andcode --wait
got me the "Aborting commit due to empty commit message."