Project Actions

Add custom action buttons to your VS Code status bar that execute shell commands with a single click.

Table of Contents

• Project Actions
  • Quick Start
    • Action Syntax
    • Command Variables
  • Global Actions
  • Active File Actions

Quick Start

1. Open Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P or Cmd+Shift+P)
2. Run Project Actions: Edit Project Actions
3. Configure your actions in the generated .project-actions.json file

Example:

{
  "actions": [
    {
      "text": "$(play) Run",
      "command": "npm start",
      "tooltip": "Start development server"
    },
    {
      "text": "$(beaker) Test",
      "command": "npm test",
      "tooltip": "Run tests"
    }
  ]
}

Buttons appear automatically on the status bar and update on file save.

Action Syntax

Each action requires:

• text: Button label (supports Codicons like $(play))
• command: Shell command to execute
• tooltip (optional): Hover text
• color (optional): Text color (CSS format)

Command Variables

Use VS Code variables for dynamic commands:

• ${file} - Current file path
• ${fileBasename} - Current filename
• ${fileDirname} - Current file's directory
• ${workspaceFolder} - Workspace root path
• ${relativeFile} - File path relative to workspace

Example:

{
  "text": "$(play) Run File",
  "command": "python ${file}",
  "tooltip": "Run current Python file"
}

See all variables

Global Actions

Define actions in VS Code settings that appear based on file patterns:

1. Open Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P or Cmd+Shift+P)
2. Run Project Actions: Edit Global Actions
3. Add global actions as follows:

{
  "project-actions.globalActions": [
    {
      "text": "$(repo-pull) Pull",
      "command": "git pull",
      "glob": "**/.git",
      "tooltip": "Pull latest changes"
    }
  ]
}

Global actions appear when the glob pattern matches files in your workspace (e.g., **/.git shows the action in Git repositories).

Active File Actions

Define actions in VS Code settings that appear based on the currently active file:

1. Open Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P or Cmd+Shift+P)
2. Run Project Actions: Edit Active File Actions
3. Add active file actions as follows:

{
  "project-actions.activeFileActions": [
    {
      "text": "$(python) Run Python",
      "command": "python ${file}",
      "glob": "*.py",
      "tooltip": "Run current Python file"
    }
  ]
}

Active file actions appear when the glob pattern matches the currently open file (e.g., *.py shows the action only when editing Python files).

Settings

• project-actions.configFileName: Config file name (default: .project-actions.json)
• project-actions.globalActions: Global actions with glob patterns
• project-actions.activeFileActions: Active file actions with glob patterns

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request to the GitHub repository.

Issues

Found a bug or have a feature request? Please open an issue on the GitHub issue tracker.