TaskBari

VS Code extension that loads workspace tasks into the status bar — with category grouping support.

Inspired by earlier task-button status bar extensions, TaskBari goes further by letting you collapse related tasks into group buttons. Clicking a group opens a QuickPick menu listing all tasks in that category, saving valuable status bar space.

Features

• Individual task buttons on the status bar like other extensions which inspired this one
• Group buttons that collapse multiple related tasks into a single status bar button
• QuickPick submenus that appear when you click a group button
• Opt-in "Run all" option in group QuickPick menus (enabled per group with runAll: true)
• Configurable group labels, icons, colors, and sort priority
• Full backward compatibility with existing tasks.json configurations

Install

Install from the VS Code Marketplace or the Open VSX Registry.

In VS Code press Ctrl+P and run:

ext install SkySloane.taskbari

Editors that use Open VSX (such as Cursor, VSCodium, and Gitpod) can install directly from their built-in extension panel by searching for TaskBari.

Quick Start

Add tasks to your .vscode/tasks.json as usual. To group tasks, add a group property inside options.statusbar:

{
  "version": "2.0.0",
  "tasks": [
    {
      "label": "Build Debug",
      "type": "shell",
      "command": "make debug",
      "options": {
        "statusbar": {
          "group": "Build"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "label": "Build Release",
      "type": "shell",
      "command": "make release",
      "options": {
        "statusbar": {
          "group": "Build"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "label": "Lint",
      "type": "shell",
      "command": "npm run lint"
    }
  ]
}

This creates two status bar items instead of three: a "Build (2)" group button and a "Lint" individual button. Clicking "Build (2)" opens a QuickPick with "Build Debug" and "Build Release".

Tip — let your coding agents do the setup: Paste the following link into your agent prompt and ask it to create or optimize your tasks.json for TaskBari:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/schbz/taskbari/refs/heads/master/agent-instruct.txt

The file contains configuration references, group rules, recommended category taxonomies for different project types, and a full working example.

Group Configuration

For more control, use an object instead of a string:

{
  "label": "Build Debug",
  "type": "shell",
  "command": "make debug",
  "options": {
    "statusbar": {
      "group": {
        "id": "Build",
        "label": "Build",
        "icon": "tools",
        "color": "#22C1D6",
        "priority": 10,
        "runAll": true
      }
    }
  }
}

Only the first task in a group that specifies these properties "wins" — subsequent tasks in the same group only need "group": "Build".

Per-Task Options

All standard status bar options are supported:

"options": {
  "statusbar": {
    "label": "$(beaker) Test",
    "color": "#22C1D6",
    "detail": "Run unit tests",
    "hide": false,
    "filePattern": "test_.*"
  }
}

Extension Settings

AI Agent Setup (Recommended)

This repo includes an agent-instruct.txt file that teaches AI coding agents (Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Aider, etc.) how to set up and optimize your tasks.json for TaskBari.

How to use it:

1. Copy agent-instruct.txt into your project, or reference it directly https://raw.githubusercontent.com/schbz/taskbari/refs/heads/master/agent-instruct.txt.
2. In your AI agent's chat, mention the file to give it context:
3. Example prompts:
   • "@agent-instruct.txt Please set up a tasks.json for this Node.js project with build, test, and deploy groups."
   • "@agent-instruct.txt Migrate my existing tasks.json to use TaskBari groups."
   • "@agent-instruct.txt Add a new test coverage task to the Test group."

The file contains configuration references, group rules, recommended category taxonomies for different project types, migration steps, and a full working example.

Development

npm install
npm run compile
# Press F5 in VS Code to launch Extension Development Host

Releasing

Publishing runs in GitHub Actions when you push a version tag matching v* (for example v1.2.0 after setting "version": "1.2.0" in package.json). The workflow packages once (taskbari.vsix) and publishes that same file to Open VSX and the VS Code Marketplace.

You can also run the Publish Extension workflow manually from the Actions tab (workflow_dispatch). Use that only when the package.json version is not already published on both registries.

Configure these repository secrets:

Credits

Inspired by the ecosystem of VS Code task-button extensions that came before it.