INSTRUCTIONS LINK:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RuU72RwLD7aTVCoE9QmhnaOmLMB6asirOzTD1VzVFwk/edit?usp=sharing

🚀 MERN Start Button (VS Code Extension)

Start both frontend (React/Vite/Next) and backend (Node/Express) servers with one command. It auto-detects folders and opens the frontend in Chrome incognito.

Features

• One-click/shortcut start of frontend and backend in separate terminals.
• Heuristic detection (names, dependencies, scripts); npm/yarn/pnpm/bun supported.
• Automatically opens http://localhost:5173 in Chrome incognito ~2s after frontend start.

Usage

1. Open a MERN project in VS Code.
2. Run: “MERN: Start Frontend & Backend” (or press Ctrl+Alt+M).
3. The extension finds suitable frontend/backend folders (up to 3 levels deep) and runs their dev/start scripts.

Notes

• If only one service is found, only that one starts.
• If scripts are missing, sensible defaults are used (e.g., npx vite, npx next dev, npx nodemon).
• Chrome must be installed and on PATH (Windows tries common install paths too). If incognito can’t be forced, it falls back to opening the URL normally.

Install

• From VS Code: search “MERN Start Button”.
• CLI: code --install-extension KrishParikh.mern-start-button