EECS 280 Setup

One-click environment setup and verification for EECS 280 at the University of Michigan.

Quick Start

Install the EECS 280 Course Setup extension from the Marketplace

Summary

This extension automatically configures VS Code and verifies your EECS 280 C++ development environment. The end result should match what you'd get by following the EECS 280 Setup tutorials.

	macOS	WSL	Linux
Installs C/C++ and CodeLLDB extensions	✓	✓	✓
Installs WSL extension	—	✓	—
Disables AI/Copilot features (per GenAI policy)	✓	✓	✓
Generates `.vscode/launch.json` if missing	✓ (CodeLLDB)	✓ (cppdbg/gdb)	✓ (cppdbg/gdb)
Checks Xcode Command Line Tools	✓	—	—
Checks Homebrew	✓	—	—
Checks WSL version and user	—	✓	—
Checks `g++`, `gdb`, `make`	—	✓	✓
Checks `tree`, `wget`, `git`	✓	✓	✓
Checks `rsync`, `ssh`, `python3`	—	✓	✓
Checks VS Code `code` command	✓	✓	✓

The verification script will explain any issues it finds and offer to fix them. The default launch.json is only written when the open folder contains C++ files (.cpp, .hpp, .h, .cc); an existing one is never overwritten.

Re-running verification

The verification script re-runs automatically on first install and after each extension update, plus a silent re-check every 10 minutes that keeps the EECS 280 status bar indicator (✓ / error / warning) up to date. To re-check your environment manually:

Open the Command Palette:
- macOS: Cmd+Shift+P
- Windows/Linux: Ctrl+Shift+P
Type EECS 280: Verify Setup and press Enter.
Follow any prompts in the terminal.

Troubleshooting

Windows: "EECS 280 requires WSL" You need to install WSL and Ubuntu first, then connect VS Code to WSL. See the WSL setup guide.

Windows: "Not in WSL" status bar warning You have WSL installed, but VS Code is running as a Windows app. The extension shows a notification on activation — click Open in WSL (no folder open) or Reopen in WSL (folder open) to connect. Clicking the EECS 280: Not in WSL status bar item does the same thing. Once inside WSL, verification runs automatically.

macOS: Xcode CLT installation dialog doesn't appear Try running xcode-select --install directly in Terminal.

'code' command not found Open VS Code, press Cmd+Shift+P (or Ctrl+Shift+P), type "Shell Command: Install 'code' command in PATH", and run it. Then restart your terminal.

Copilot/AI features stopped working after install This is intentional — the extension disables AI assistants per the course's GenAI policy. Contact course staff if you have questions.

Contributing and maintaining

See MAINTAINING.md for the maintainer guide (release process, testing, and contribution workflow), and AGENTS.md for guidance on AI coding agents working in this repo.

Related documentation that references this extension (update alongside changes here):

To embed an install link in HTML (e.g., a course web page), use vscode:extension/eecs280.setup280 — clicking it opens VS Code and installs the extension with one click.

Acknowledgements

The original extension was written by Alex Ni in 2026.