C++ Starter for Mac
Write, run and debug C++ on a Mac the way you did in Visual Studio. Press F5, stop at breakpoints, step through your code, and get compiler errors explained in plain English. It is free and uses the tools Apple already provides (clang++, lldb-dap).
Who it's for
Beginner C++ students on macOS, especially those who learned on Visual Studio in Windows and want the same workflow: open a folder, press F5, see the program run. You do not need to write a tasks.json, a launch.json or a Makefile.
First run
- Install the extension. It also installs the clangd extension for code completion. If Apple's command line tools are missing, the extension offers a one-click install (the same as
xcode-select --install). You can re-check any time with C++: Check Tools in the Command Palette.
- Create a project. On the Get started page choose Create a new project, or open a folder that already contains
.cpp files. Run C++: Show Start Page to see the page again.
- Press F5. Your program builds, then runs in the terminal. Click in the left margin to set a breakpoint first and it stops there.
Shortcuts
| Key |
What it does |
| F5 |
Build and start debugging |
| Ctrl+F5 |
Build and run without debugging (waits for a key at the end) |
| Ctrl+Shift+B (or Cmd+Shift+B) |
Build only |
| F9 |
Toggle a breakpoint (built into VS Code) |
| F10 |
Step over (built into VS Code) |
| F11 |
Step into (built into VS Code) |
| Shift+F11 |
Step out (built into VS Code) |
| Shift+F5 |
Stop debugging (built into VS Code) |
Mac keyboards: the top row usually controls brightness and volume. Hold fn and press F5 (fn+F5), or turn on "Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys" in System Settings, Keyboard.
F11 (Step into): macOS uses F11 for Show Desktop, so VS Code never sees it. To free it, open System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → Mission Control and uncheck Show Desktop.
One program per folder
Every folder is one program. All .cpp files directly in the folder are built together; files in subfolders are not. Exactly one of those files may contain main. If you open a Visual Studio .sln or .vcxproj, the extension reads the source files, include folders and defines from it, and asks which project to run when there are several.
Windows-only code that works
Code copied from Visual Studio projects compiles unchanged for these:
system("pause"), system("pause>nul") and system("cls")scanf_s, printf_s, fprintf_s, sprintf_s, strcpy_s#include "pch.h", #include "stdafx.h" and #include <conio.h> (_getch, _getche, _kbhit)- The "Press any key to close this window . . ." wait at the end of Ctrl+F5 and F5 runs
Code that uses Windows-only libraries such as <windows.h> or MFC won't compile on a Mac. You'll see a "file not found" error for those headers.
Status
Tested on Apple Silicon. Intel Macs should work but are not yet tested on real hardware. Please report problems.
For maintainers
npm run test:unit and npm run test:integration run the tests. npm run package builds cpp-starter-mac-<version>.vsix.- The Marketplace publisher is
EsamRabba (package.json), so the extension id is EsamRabba.cpp-starter-mac.
- Publish with
npx vsce login <publisher> and then npx vsce publish.
npm run icon regenerates media/icon.png from media/icon.svg.
