GEDCOM for Visual Studio Code

GEDCOM language support by Domorium. Read and edit .ged and .gedcom files with confidence using structure-aware suggestions and diagnostics as you type.

Features

• Context-aware GEDCOM autocomplete
• Real-time structural validation
• Syntax highlighting from the moment a file opens, refined by the language server once it connects
• GEDCOM highlighted inside a gedcom code block in Markdown
• Hover information for GEDCOM tags
• Go to definition for cross-references
• Find all XREF references with read/write highlights
• Safe, atomic XREF rename
• An XREF such as @I1@ is one word to double-click and word movement
• Clickable web and local-file links
• Media links that follow a file renamed or moved in the editor
• Quick fixes for broken references and invalid levels
• Code folding for records and nested structures
• Support for .ged and .gedcom files

Highlighting

Each part of a line is coloured for what it is — the level, the tag, the record an XREF declares, a reference to one, and the value:

0 @I1@ INDI
1 NAME John /Doe/
1 SEX M
1 BIRT
2 DATE 1 JAN 1900
1 FAMS @F1@

The colours come from your theme, and two layers produce them. A grammar paints the file as soon as it opens, and works in a Markdown code block like the one above, where no language server can reach. The language server then refines the same colours with what it knows that a grammar cannot — which XREF declares a record and which refers to one. The two agree, so nothing changes appearance when the server connects.

Renaming a media file

Rename or move a photograph in the Explorer, and every open GEDCOM document that names it by a relative path is rewritten as part of the rename, and undo in the Explorer reverts both. A GEDCOM 7 document cannot name a file above its own folder, so a move there leaves it unchanged and a warning names it. GEDCOM files that are not open are not rewritten: if a line of one of them ends in the file's name, a warning names them. That is a search by name, not a reading of the file, so it can name a file whose note ends in the name, and it misses a path split across CONC lines, a name in other letter case, and anything under node_modules.

Not followed: renaming a folder, renaming outside the editor (git, a terminal, another program), absolute paths such as C:\photos\a.jpg or file:///…, and a workspace whose GEDCOM files have a mixed-case extension such as .Ged.

Installation

Install GEDCOM from the Visual Studio Marketplace, or run:

code --install-extension domorium.gedcom

You can also try the GEDCOM web editor by Domorium.

Contributing

See the project repository for development setup and contribution instructions.

License

MIT © 2025 Andrei Lobanov

Domorium is an independent project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by FamilySearch or Intellectual Reserve, Inc. FAMILYSEARCH GEDCOM™ and FAMILYSEARCH® are trademarks of Intellectual Reserve, Inc.