Task Runner

A VS Code sidebar grid of big, labelled buttons that run your tasks and shell commands with one click.

Task Runner sidebar showing a grid of icon buttons next to taskrunner.json

Features

One-click buttons. Each button runs a task from tasks.json (or any task provider, such as npm) or a plain shell command.
Big, readable icons. Icons range from 32 to 128 px, with optional labels underneath.
Flexible icons. Use a Codicon name, a workspace image (.svg or .png) or an emoji.
Groups. Nest buttons in folder-like groups to keep the grid tidy.
Run status. A check mark shows on buttons whose last run succeeded.
Confirm before running. Mark deploy-style buttons with "confirm": true.
Edit in the UI or in the file. Add buttons, rename them, change icons, remove them and reorder them by drag and drop. Right-click a button for the menu. Everything is stored in a plain JSON file, and your comments are kept when the extension edits it.
Schema and completion. .vscode/taskrunner.json is validated against a bundled JSON schema.

Getting started

Click the Task Runner icon in the activity bar.
Click + in the view title to add tasks or commands to the grid. Run Task Runner: Pick Tasks for the Grid from the Command Palette to choose from your existing tasks.
Click the gear icon to open .vscode/taskrunner.json and edit the buttons by hand. If it doesn't exist yet, run Task Runner: Create Config.

Configuration

Buttons live in .vscode/taskrunner.json, in the order shown:

{
  "$schema": "../schemas/taskrunner.schema.json",
  "buttons": [
    // Run a task from tasks.json
    { "task": "Build", "source": "Workspace", "icon": "tools" },

    // Run a shell command
    { "command": "npm start", "label": "Run", "icon": "play" },

    // Ask first
    { "command": "npm run deploy", "label": "Deploy", "icon": "rocket", "confirm": true },

    // A group of buttons
    {
      "group": "Git",
      "icon": "source-control",
      "buttons": [
        { "command": "git status", "label": "Status", "icon": "git-commit" },
        { "command": "git push", "label": "Push", "icon": "repo-push", "confirm": true }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Button properties

A button must have exactly one of task, command, or group with buttons.

Property	Applies to	Description
`task`	task	Label of the task, as listed in Terminal > Run Task.
`source`	task	Tells same-named tasks apart: `"Workspace"` for `tasks.json`, or a provider such as `"npm"`.
`folder`	task	Workspace folder name, in a multi-root workspace.
`command`	command	Shell command to run. Variables such as `${workspaceFolder}` are resolved by VS Code.
`cwd`	command	Working directory. Defaults to the workspace folder.
`env`	command	Extra environment variables.
`shell`	command	Shell executable to use instead of the default, e.g. `"bash"`.
`group`	group	Group name. Requires `buttons`, which may contain more groups.
`label`	all	Text under the icon. Defaults to the task label or the command.
`icon`	all	Codicon name, workspace-relative image, or emoji. Defaults by task group; groups default to `folder`.
`tooltip`	all	Hover text. Defaults to what the button will run.
`confirm`	task, command	Ask before running. Default `false`.
`id`	all	Stable identifier, unique within the file. Derived automatically if omitted.

Windows paths in JSON: a backslash starts an escape, so \t or \b silently turns into a control character. Write .\\scripts\\build.ps1 or use forward slashes.

The full definition is in schemas/taskrunner.schema.json.

Settings

Setting	Default	Description
`taskRunner.iconSize`	`48`	Icon size in pixels, from 32 to 128 in steps of 8.
`taskRunner.showLabels`	`true`	Show labels under icons. When off, the name remains in the tooltip and for screen readers.
`taskRunner.columns`	`auto`	Number of columns (1 to 12), or `auto` to fit the sidebar width.

Commands

Command	Description
Task Runner: Add to the Grid...	Add a task or command button.
Task Runner: Pick Tasks for the Grid	Choose from your existing tasks.
Task Runner: Open Config	Open `.vscode/taskrunner.json`.
Task Runner: Create Config	Create a starter config file.
Task Runner: Show Tasks	List the tasks VS Code can see.

Right-click a button for Rename, Change Icon, Edit in File and Remove from Grid.

Workspace trust

Task Runner has limited support in untrusted workspaces. The buttons are shown, but nothing runs and icons from workspace files aren't loaded until you trust the folder.

Development

Requires Node.js 22 and VS Code 1.90 or later.

npm ci
npm run build        # bundle the extension and webview with esbuild
npm run typecheck    # type-check the extension and webview
npm run test:unit    # unit tests (mocha)
npm run test:host    # integration tests inside a VS Code instance
npm test             # all of the above
npm run package      # build .output/taskrunner.vsix

To debug, open the repo in VS Code and press F5.

The source is split into src/core (pure logic), src/host (the extension host) and src/webview (the grid UI). A manually triggered CI workflow tests on Windows and Linux and uploads the packaged .vsix.

Extension host crash with GitHub Copilot Chat

When the development host starts with Copilot Chat installed, the extension host can abort about a second after launch (exit code 134, with nothing in the logs). It happens only with --extensionDevelopmentPath: in that mode Copilot Chat enables API proposals that VS Code's product.json doesn't list, and VS Code logs Proceeding with EXTRA proposals ... EXTENSION WILL BE BROKEN just before the crash. It is intermittent, and it isn't caused by Task Runner. The extension runs fine with --disable-extensions.

The default Run Extension launch configuration passes --disable-extension=GitHub.copilot-chat, so the development host starts without Copilot Chat. This doesn't affect your normal VS Code windows.

If you launch the development host without Copilot Chat first and then re-enable it, it generally launches fine from then on. I don't know whether a Copilot Chat update brings the crash back. If it does, disable Copilot Chat in the development host again.

AI disclosure

Most of this extension was written with AI assistance, guided by detailed upfront planning, extensive manual testing and maintainer review. The maintainer reviewed all of the code. See ACR.md for the AI Code Rating (A4b).

Licence

MIT. Third-party material is listed in THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md.

VSCode Task Runner

Rathinosk