VSCode Updater

A VS Code extension that automates updating VS Code on Linux for users who don't have a package manager handling updates.

Why This Exists

On Linux, VS Code's built-in update button opens a browser and sends you through a manual download and extraction process. This extension automates the entire flow so that updating is a single action.

Limitations

This extension cannot intercept or replace VS Code's built-in "Update Available" notification, and it cannot place a button next to VS Code's native update button. That flow is controlled entirely by VS Code and is not exposed to extensions. Instead, this extension provides its own update mechanism via three surfaces:

1. Status bar item — a persistent icon in the bottom-right corner indicating update status
2. Notification — a popup when an update is detected, with action buttons
3. Command palette — commands available via Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P

How It Works

1. Extension periodically checks whether a newer VS Code version is available.
2. When an update is detected:
   • A status bar item appears with a clickable button
   • A notification prompts the user with actions to update now or dismiss
3. User clicks Update → extension downloads the latest tar.gz
4. A backup of the current installation is created
5. The new version is extracted to the same directory
6. After extraction succeeds, the old installation is removed
7. Extension prompts with Restart Now → VS Code closes and reopens with the updated version (or use the Restart VSCode command)

Extension Settings

This extension contributes the following settings:

• vscode-updater.installPath: Custom installation directory. If not set, the extension automatically detects the running VS Code installation path. Can be any existing directory; critical system paths (/, /usr, /home, /tmp) are blocked for safety.
• vscode-updater.autoBackup: Enable or disable automatic backup before updating (default: true).
• vscode-updater.checkInterval: How often to check for updates in days (default: 1).
• vscode-updater.channel: VS Code release channel to check and download. Options: stable (default), insider.
• vscode-updater.flavour: VS Code flavour. Options: vscode (default), codium, other.
• vscode-updater.customUpdateBaseUrl: Base URL for update downloads when flavour is other. Example: https://update.example.com
• vscode-updater.customReleasesUrl: Full URL for releases list when flavour is other. Example: https://update.example.com/api/releases/stable
• vscode-updater.customBinaryName: Binary name to restart when flavour is other. Leave empty to use code.
• vscode-updater.debug.deleteDownloadedArchive: Delete the downloaded archive after updating (default: true). Set to false to keep the archive for debugging.
• vscode-updater.debug.keepFailedFolder: When update fails, keep the new folder with a .BAD suffix instead of restoring from backup (default: false). Useful for debugging failed updates.

Commands

• vscode-updater.update: Download and install the latest VS Code update.
• vscode-updater.restart: Restart VS Code to load the updated version.
• vscode-updater.checkNow: Force an immediate update check.

Requirements

• Linux operating system
• Sufficient permissions to write to the VS Code installation directory (may require sudo for system-wide installs)
• tar available in PATH
• pnpm as the package manager (per project stack)

Development

Use pnpm for all package management. Standard commands:

• pnpm run lint — run ESLint
• pnpm test — run unit tests
• pnpm run test:integration — run full VS Code integration tests

Update Rule

When the user says "update all":

1. Bump the version in package.json
2. Update CHANGELOG.md with all changes for the new version
3. Run ./publish --lint --test --package (without --publish)

Use the publish script for the release pipeline:

• ./publish — runs lint, test, package, and publish in sequence (stops on first failure)
• ./publish --lint — lint only
• ./publish --test — test only
• ./publish --package — package only
• ./publish --publish — publish only

Testing

This extension has unit tests for pure logic functions. Some integration-level behaviors are not unit-tested due to the complexity of mocking VS Code's environment for a small extension:

• performUpdate() — requires filesystem mocking, progress API mocking, and backup/restore flow
• restartVSCode() — spawns system processes (pkill, code/codium)
• extractTarGz() — requires the tar binary to be present
• isUpdating guard — requires mocking vscode.commands.registerCommand to test concurrent invocation

These are covered by manual testing in the Extension Development Host (F5).

Run tests with:

• pnpm test — unit tests only
• pnpm run test:integration — full VS Code integration tests

Supported Flavours

• VS Code (default) — uses Microsoft's official update API
• VSCodium — uses GitHub Releases API for version checks and downloads
• Other — provide custom update and releases URLs in settings

Known Issues

• Updating a system-wide installation may require elevated permissions.
• Some custom VS Code builds or alternative distributions may not be compatible.
• No checksum or signature verification is performed on downloaded tarballs.
• validateInstallPath uses fs.realpathSync to prevent symlink escapes, but this is not a full security boundary.
• The restart command uses pkill -x which may not work on some Wayland compositors; in that case, restart manually.
• This extension is Linux-only.
• installPath blocks critical system directories (/, /usr, /home, /tmp, /var, /snap, /dev, /proc, /sys, /boot, /root, /nix) but allows custom paths like ~/myApps/vscode.
• Downloaded tarballs are cached in ~/.cache/vscode-updater/ to speed up repeated testing. The cache is not automatically cleared.

Troubleshooting

Permission denied when updating

• If VS Code is installed system-wide (e.g., /usr/share/code), you need sudo access. The extension will fail during the replacement step. Either run VS Code with sufficient permissions or install VS Code in your home directory.

tar not found

• The extension requires the tar command in PATH. Install it via your package manager: sudo apt install tar (Debian/Ubuntu) or sudo dnf install tar (Fedora/RHEL).

Custom install path not detected

• Set vscode-updater.installPath in your VS Code settings to the exact directory containing the code binary.

Update button still shows in VS Code

• This is expected. This extension cannot suppress VS Code's built-in update notification. Use the extension's status bar or command palette instead.