Endpoint for Visual Studio

A Visual Studio extension for testing REST APIs directly from .http and .rest files.

Features

• Execute HTTP Requests: Click the play button in the glyph margin or use the context menu to send requests
• Response Viewer: Document-side tool window with:
  • Status code with colored badge
  • Response time and size metrics
  • Tabbed interface: Body, Headers, Cookies, Raw
  • JSON syntax highlighting with VS Code Dark+/Light+ themes (via AvalonEdit)
  • Collapsible JSON tree view with copy path/value support
• Variable Support: Use {{variableName}} placeholders resolved from environment files
• Request Chaining: Reference responses from named requests using @name directive
• VS Theme Integration: Automatically adapts to Light, Dark, and Blue themes

Requirements

• Visual Studio 2022 17.0+ (amd64)
• .NET Framework 4.7.2

Building

Prerequisites

• Visual Studio 2022 with VSSDK workload
• MSBuild 17.0+

Build Commands

# Build with MSBuild (VS 2022)
& "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Enterprise\MSBuild\Current\Bin\MSBuild.exe" src/vs-endpoint.csproj /t:Build /p:Configuration=Debug

# Or VS 18 Canary
& "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\18\Canary\MSBuild\Current\Bin\MSBuild.exe" src/vs-endpoint.csproj /t:Build /p:Configuration=Debug

Debugging

1. Set src/vs-endpoint.csproj as startup project
2. Press F5 to launch VS Experimental Instance with /rootsuffix Exp
3. Open a .http or .rest file to test

Clearing MEF Cache

If MEF components aren't loading, clear the ComponentModelCache:

Remove-Item "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Microsoft\VisualStudio\*Exp\ComponentModelCache" -Recurse -Force

Marketplace publishing

• Publishing automation is configured in .github/workflows/publish.yaml.
• Add the repository secret VS_PUBLISHER_ACCESS_TOKEN for Marketplace publishing.
• Publishing to Marketplace is gated to commits (or workflow dispatch command input) containing [release].

Project Structure

src/
├── Adornments/           # Glyph margin play buttons
├── Commands/             # Menu command handlers
├── ContentType/          # HTTP content type definitions
├── Diagnostics/          # MEF diagnostics
├── Services/
│   ├── Execution/        # HTTP client and result types
│   ├── Parser/           # .http file parser
│   ├── Session/          # Request chain session manager
│   └── Variables/        # Variable resolution
├── ToolWindows/          # Response viewer WPF control
├── vs_endpointPackage.cs # AsyncPackage entry point
└── VSEndpointPackage.vsct # Command table

Usage

1. Create a .http or .rest file:

@baseUrl = https://api.example.com

### Get users
# @name getUsers
GET {{baseUrl}}/users

### Get specific user
GET {{baseUrl}}/users/{{getUsers.response.body.$[0].id}}
Authorization: Bearer {{token}}

2. Click the play button (▶) in the glyph margin next to a request
3. View the response in the Endpoint Response Viewer tool window

Key Dependencies

• Microsoft.VisualStudio.SDK 17.0.32112.339
• Microsoft.VSSDK.BuildTools 17.14.2120
• AvalonEdit 6.3.0.90 - Syntax highlighting
• System.Text.Json 8.0.5 - JSON parsing

License

MIT

Author

Tim Heuer