SI Projects

Source Insight-style project management for C development in Visual Studio Code.

If you are coming from Source Insight, one of the things you miss most in VS Code is its project system — the ability to create a named project, tell it where your source lives, point it at your include directories (local or on a network share), save all of that, and reopen it later with a single click.

SI Projects brings that workflow to VS Code, and automatically configures IntelliSense so symbol lookup, Go-to-Definition, and #include suggestions work across your entire codebase — including VxWorks SDK headers, Linux sysroot headers, and Samba/UNC network paths.

Features

📁 Project sidebar

All your saved projects are listed in a dedicated panel in the Activity Bar. Click any project to open it instantly. No file picker needed after the first time.

✨ New Project wizard

A guided 4-step wizard collects everything needed to set up a project:

• Project name
• Working / source directory
• Include directories (optional, multi-entry, starts in your working dir)
• Additional directories (optional, e.g. vendor libs)
• C standard (c89, c99, c11, c17, gnu11, gnu17)

The wizard remembers your default .siproj save folder after the first run — you are never asked for it again unless you change it.

💾 .siproj project files

Each project is saved as a plain JSON .siproj file on disk. You can commit it to version control, share it with your team, or back it up like any other file.

🔌 Automatic IntelliSense configuration

Every time you open a project, SI Projects writes .vscode/c_cpp_properties.json into your working directory. This is what the C/C++ extension reads for IntelliSense.

The configuration uses compiler-free (tag-parser) mode — no compiler needs to be installed or configured. This makes it work equally well for:

UNC network paths (\\server\share\...) are automatically converted to forward-slash format (//server/share/...) which cpptools accepts correctly.

📌 Persistent default projects folder

You choose once where .siproj files are saved. After that the wizard skips that step entirely. Change it any time with SI Projects: Change Default Projects Folder from the Command Palette.

🗑️ Project management

Right-click any project in the sidebar for:

• Open Project — open working directory and reload IntelliSense
• Remove from List — remove from sidebar, keep .siproj file on disk
• Delete Project File — remove from sidebar and permanently delete the .siproj file (source code is never touched)

🔁 Last-project memory

On startup, SI Projects detects the last opened project and offers to reopen it. If you are already in the correct working directory it stays silent.

Requirements

• C/C++ extension by Microsoft — provides the IntelliSense engine that SI Projects configures.
• No compiler required. SI Projects uses tag-parser mode which works without any toolchain installed.

Getting Started

1. Install this extension and the C/C++ extension.
2. Open the SI Projects panel from the Activity Bar (window icon).
3. Click the + button or run SI Projects: New Project from the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P).
4. Follow the wizard — enter a project name, pick your source directory, and add any include paths.
5. Your working directory opens automatically and IntelliSense is ready.

To reopen a project later, click it in the sidebar or run SI Projects: Open Project.

Commands

The .siproj File

Projects are stored as human-readable JSON:

{
  "name": "my_firmware",
  "version": "2.0",
  "workingDirectory": "C:/projects/my_firmware/src",
  "includeDirectories": [
    "//192.168.1.10/nfs/sysroot/usr/include",
    "C:/WindRiver/vxworks-7/include"
  ],
  "additionalDirectories": [],
  "cStandard": "c11",
  "createdAt": "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z",
  "lastOpenedAt": "2026-05-14T00:00:00.000Z"
}

You can edit this file manually if needed.

After Opening a Project

If IntelliSense does not pick up includes immediately, run:

Ctrl+Shift+P → C/C++: Reset IntelliSense Database

This forces cpptools to re-index all headers. Usually only needed once after first setup or after adding new include directories.

Known Limitations

• Network share availability — if a UNC include path is offline when VS Code starts, cpptools will silently skip those headers until the share is reachable again.
• C only — the wizard is designed for C projects. C++ files will open fine but the C standard selector only shows C standards.
• One working directory per project — matching Source Insight's model. If your project has multiple source roots, add them as additional directories.

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome at github.com/TanvirAnzum/source_insight_project_creator.

License

MIT © Tanvir Anzum