Project Importer for MPLAB®

Welcome! We are working hard to improve your experience and appreciate your patience and support. Features and functionality will remain in active development. Your feedback is invaluable to us. Please report any bugs or suggestions for enhancements.

✨ Features

• Detects supported projects automatically when a workspace folder is opened.
• Imports projects from MPLAB® X IDE and Microchip Studio for AVR® and SAM Devices into the MPLAB Extensions project format.
• Imports configurations, filesets, build settings, device information, toolchains, and device-pack information where supported by the source project.
• Imports build steps and dependent project information where supported by the source project.
• Reports progress and opens an import summary with configuration, toolchain, device-pack, fileset, and diagnostic information.

📁 Supported project types

By default, the importer searches the workspace root and up to three directory levels below it. Change scanDepth to search deeper or restrict discovery to a shallower tree.

🏃‍♀️ Getting started

1. Install the MPLAB Extension Pack

Install the MPLAB Extension Pack to get the extensions required for project import and the rest of the MPLAB workflow.

Install the compiler, toolchain, and device support required to build the source project. Missing toolchains, include paths, or other import issues are reported in the import summary.

2. Open the source project in VS Code

Open the workspace folder that contains the MPLAB X or Microchip Studio project. Workspace scanning is enabled by default.

Automatic import is also enabled by default when the opened folder is the project root:

• For MPLAB X, open the directory containing nbproject.
• For Microchip Studio, open the directory containing the .cproj or .cppproj file.

When the opened folder is a parent workspace containing a project, or when automaticImport is disabled, the importer asks whether to import each discovered project. The prompt provides these choices:

• Yes imports the project.
• No skips the project for the current session.
• Never for this workspace adds an ignore pattern to the workspace settings so the project is not offered again.

The prompt is shown when the opened workspace is not the project root or automatic import is disabled.

3. Review the imported project

The importer writes the MPLAB project configuration under the workspace's .vscode directory. Build output paths use the outputPath setting, whose default is ./out/${projectName}/${configurationName}.${outputType}.

After a successful import, an Import Summary webview opens automatically. The summary includes the source and target projects, configurations, devices, toolchains, tools, device packs, filesets, missing files, warnings, and suggested next steps. The summary is also written to the importer output channel.

For MPLAB X projects that define custom makefile commands, the importer creates or updates .vscode/tasks.json with shell tasks for build, clean, and debug build commands while preserving existing tasks.

💬 Supported commands

Use the Command Palette (CMD/CTRL + Shift + P) in VS Code to run these commands:

MPLAB: Scan workspace for MPLAB X projects

MPLAB: Scan workspace for Microchip Studio projects

These commands rescan the workspace for the selected project type. They reset projects declined during the current session, but they continue to respect projects excluded with Never for this workspace.

🔧 Troubleshooting

No project is detected

• Confirm that an MPLAB X project contains nbproject/configurations.xml.
• Confirm that a Microchip Studio project uses a .cproj or .cppproj file.
• Increase mplab.mplab-importer.scanDepth if the project is nested deeper than the configured limit.
• Check mplab.mplab-importer.ignorePatterns for a pattern that excludes the project.
• Run the matching scan command from the Command Palette.

The importer shows a prompt instead of importing automatically

This is expected when the workspace folder is a parent of the project root. Open the project root directly, or keep the prompt by setting mplab.mplab-importer.automaticImport to false.

More projects are present than the scan finds

The default mplab.mplab-importer.projectLimit is 5. Increase this setting if the workspace contains more projects than the configured limit.

The import summary reports issues

Install missing toolchains and resolve missing include paths or other files identified in the summary. Imported projects can be configured with the MPLAB: Edit project properties commands before building.

🐞 Feedback and issue reporting

Go to mplabfeedback.microchip.com to report issues and suggest enhancements.

📝 License Information

The MPLAB® Extensions for Visual Studio Code are distributed under a non-exclusive software license agreement provided by Microchip Technology Inc. To review the complete terms and conditions governing the use of this software, please consult the license file included with this package.

Copyright © 2026 Microchip