Marnis Team Sync

Keep VS Code settings and extensions consistent across your whole team. Marnis Team Sync ("Team Sync" in the UI) loads one central team-config.json from a URL, installs missing extensions and writes the shared settings into every team member's user settings.

It also ships Markdown tools for teams that write content in Markdown: formatting commands, an editor toolbar and "copy as HTML" with configurable output (for example Bootstrap table classes for an online shop).

Features

Central configuration: one JSON file on any HTTPS server (internal web server, GitHub raw file, S3, ...).
Extensions: installs missing extensions from extensions.install, so the shared settings work right away. Team Sync never uninstalls or disables any extension.
Settings: writes every entry of settings into the user settings (global scope). null removes a setting.
Clean removal: a setting deleted from the team config is reset on every client that still has the team value. Values a user changed personally stay.
Versioned: changes are only applied when version changes, so personal tweaks are not overwritten every hour.
Automatic: runs after VS Code has started and then every 60 minutes (configurable).
Private configs: optional bearer token, stored in the operating system's secure storage.
Status bar: shows the applied config version and the sync state, a click syncs immediately.
Robust: network errors, invalid JSON or a missing URL are logged in the output channel "Team Sync" and never break VS Code.

Markdown tools

Formatting commands: bold, italic, strikethrough, inline code, headings 1 to 6, bullet and numbered lists, checklists, quotes, code blocks, links, images and tables. Each command toggles: run it again to remove the formatting.
Works like you expect: multiple cursors, one undo step per command, the word at the cursor is used when nothing is selected (umlauts included), spaces stay outside the markers, lists convert into each other.
Tables from pasted data: select lines separated by tabs (e.g. copied from a spreadsheet) and run "Tabelle einfügen".
Links: a URL on the clipboard is suggested, running the command on a link removes it again.
Toolbar: optional buttons in the editor title bar of Markdown files, each one switched on by a setting. The Markdown preview can get a "copy as HTML" button too.
Copy as HTML: converts the document or selection with markdown-it. Table classes, removal of empty table headers, line breaks, typography and quote characters are configurable.
All commands are in the editor context menu under Markdown and in the command palette under Markdown:.

Setup

Install Team Sync.
Host a team-config.json (see below) on an HTTPS URL.
Open the settings and set Team Sync: Config Url (teamSync.configUrl), for example:
```
"teamSync.configUrl": "https://config.example.com/vscode/team-config.json"
```
A file in a public GitHub repository works too, use its raw URL, e.g. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/<owner>/<repo>/main/team-config.json (GitHub caches raw files for a few minutes).
If the file is protected, run Team Sync: Token setzen from the command palette and enter the token. It is sent as Authorization: Bearer <token>.
Run Team Sync: Jetzt synchronisieren or click the status bar entry.

teamSync.configUrl can only be set in the user settings, a workspace cannot redirect it.

Configuration file

{
  "version": 1,
  "extensions": {
    "install": ["esbenp.prettier-vscode", "dbaeumer.vscode-eslint"]
  },
  "settings": {
    "editor.formatOnSave": true,
    "editor.defaultFormatter": "esbenp.prettier-vscode",
    "[markdown]": { "files.trimTrailingWhitespace": false }
  }
}

Field	Required	Description
`version`	yes	Integer >= 0. Increase it on every change. Clients apply the config whenever it differs from the version they applied last.
`extensions.install`	no	Extension IDs (`publisher.name`) to install when missing. Extensions that are already installed, or not listed, are left alone.
`settings`	no	Settings written to the user settings. `null` removes a setting. Language overrides such as `"[markdown]"` are merged into the user's existing override (`null` inside removes a single entry), all other values replace the user's value. `teamSync.configUrl` and `teamSync.syncIntervalMinutes` cannot be set this way, all other `teamSync.*` settings (e.g. the Markdown tools) can.

Team Sync remembers which settings values it wrote. When a setting disappears from the config, it is removed from the user settings, but only if it still has the team value.

The file is validated before anything is applied. If one step fails (for example an extension cannot be installed), the remaining steps still run and the whole version is retried on the next sync.

Files named team-config.json get validation and completion in VS Code through a bundled JSON schema.

Generate the file from settings.json and extensions.json

Instead of editing team-config.json by hand, the source repository contains a generator. Put the team settings into team/settings.json (same format as the VS Code settings.json, comments allowed) and the extensions into team/extensions.json (same format as .vscode/extensions.json: recommendations are installed), then run:

npm run team-config

It writes team/team-config.json and increases version only when something changed.

Commands

Command	Description
Team Sync: Jetzt synchronisieren	Loads the config and applies it, even if the version did not change.
Team Sync: Token setzen	Stores the bearer token (leave empty to remove it).
Team Sync: Token entfernen	Removes the stored token.
Team Sync: Log anzeigen	Opens the output channel "Team Sync".
Markdown: Fett, Kursiv, Durchgestrichen, Code im Text	Toggle inline formatting.
Markdown: Überschrift ...	Pick a heading level; the current level is checked and picking it again removes the heading. With an argument (`1` to `6`, e.g. in a keybinding) the level is applied directly.
Markdown: Überschrift 1 to 6	Set, change or remove a heading directly.
Markdown: Aufzählung, Nummerierte Liste, Checkliste, Zitat, Codeblock	Toggle the format on the selected lines.
Markdown: Link, Bild	Insert or remove a link or image.
Markdown: Tabelle einfügen (ohne/mit Kopfzeile)	Insert a table or convert the selected lines into one.
Markdown: Formatierung auswählen ...	Pick any of the commands above from a list.
Markdown: Als HTML kopieren	Copies the document or selection as HTML.

No keyboard shortcuts are assigned by default, so nothing collides with other Markdown extensions. Assign your own via Preferences: Open Keyboard Shortcuts (search for teamSync.markdown).

Settings

Setting	Default	Description
`teamSync.configUrl`	`""`	URL of `team-config.json`. HTTPS only, plain HTTP only for `localhost`.
`teamSync.syncIntervalMinutes`	`60`	Interval of the automatic sync in minutes (5 to 1440).
`teamSync.markdown.bulletMarker`	`-`	Marker for bullet lists and checklists (`-`, `*`, `+`).
`teamSync.markdown.boldMarker`	`**`	Marker for bold text (`**` or `__`).
`teamSync.markdown.italicMarker`	`_`	Marker for italic text (`_` or `*`).
`teamSync.markdown.toolbar.<button>`	`false`	Show a toolbar button: `heading` (picker for levels 1 to 6), `bold`, `italic`, `strikethrough`, `bullets`, `numbers`, `checkboxes`, `quote`, `link`, `image`, `table`, `copyAsHtml`. `more` adds a dropdown with every formatting command that has no button of its own. `previewCopyAsHtml` adds a "copy as HTML" button to the Markdown preview.
`teamSync.markdown.tableClass`	`table table-sm align-top table-hover`	CSS classes for `<table>` in the HTML, empty for none.
`teamSync.markdown.removeEmptyTableHeader`	`true`	Drop table header rows whose cells are all empty (`\\| \\| \\|`).
`teamSync.markdown.breaks`	`true`	Single line breaks become `<br>`.
`teamSync.markdown.typographer`	`true`	Typographic dashes, ellipsis and quotes.
`teamSync.markdown.quotes`	`„“‚‘`	Quote characters for the typographer (double open, double close, single open, single close).
`teamSync.markdown.linkify`	`true`	Turn URLs in the text into links.
`teamSync.markdown.html`	`false`	Pass HTML tags in the Markdown through instead of escaping them.

Security notes

Settings can change how VS Code and extensions behave, so only point teamSync.configUrl to a source your team controls. The token is stored in VS Code's secret storage and never written to logs; logs show the config URL without query string.

License

MIT

Marnis Team Sync

marnis-tech

Marnis Team Sync

Features

Markdown tools

Setup

Configuration file

Generate the file from settings.json and extensions.json

Commands

Settings

Security notes

License