nbgrader cell tags for VS Code

Create and manage nbgrader assignments directly in Visual Studio Code.

Features

• Cell Toolbar Button: Click the tag icon ($(tag)) in any notebook cell toolbar to set its nbgrader type
• Status Bar Indicators: See cell type, points, and lock status at the bottom of each cell
• Full nbgrader Support: Compatible with all nbgrader cell types:
  • - (no grading)
  • Manually graded answer
  • Manually graded task
  • Autograded answer (code cells only)
  • Autograded tests (code cells only)
  • Read-only

Usage

Setting Cell Types

1. Open a Jupyter notebook in VS Code
2. Click on a cell to select it
3. Click the tag icon in the cell toolbar (top-right of the cell)
4. Choose the cell type from the dropdown
5. For gradable types, enter the point value

Alternative: Use the command palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P) and search for "nbgrader: Set Cell Type"

Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+G / Cmd+Shift+G

Visual Indicators

Each cell with nbgrader metadata shows indicators in the status bar at the bottom:

• $(tag) Cell Type: The assigned nbgrader type (click to change)
• $(star-full) Points: Point value (for gradable cells)
• $(lock): Lock indicator (for read-only cells)

Clearing Metadata

Use the command palette and search for "nbgrader: Clear Cell Metadata" to remove nbgrader metadata from a cell.

Requirements

• VS Code 1.75.0 or higher
• Jupyter extension for VS Code
• nbgrader (Python package) for processing assignments

How It Works

This extension modifies the notebook cell metadata to add nbgrader-specific fields. The metadata structure matches exactly what nbgrader expects:

{
  "nbgrader": {
    "schema_version": 3,
    "grade_id": "cell-abc123def456",
    "grade": true,
    "solution": false,
    "locked": true,
    "points": 10
  }
}

The notebook file (.ipynb) is compatible with:

• JupyterLab's nbgrader extension
• Jupyter Notebook's nbgrader extension
• nbgrader command-line tools

Cell Type Details

Manually graded answer

• solution: true, grade: true
• Student writes answer, instructor manually grades
• Requires points value
• Works with code or markdown cells

Manually graded task

• task: true
• Open-ended task for manual grading
• Requires points value
• Works with code or markdown cells

Autograded answer

• solution: true, grade: false
• Student writes code, replaced with solution during grading
• Code cells only
• No points (tests will have points)

Autograded tests

• grade: true, solution: false, locked: true
• Contains test code that runs against student solution
• Code cells only
• Requires points value
• Cell is locked (read-only for students)

Read-only

• locked: true
• Cell cannot be edited by students
• Works with code or markdown cells

Tips

• Use Autograded answer for cells where students write code
• Use Autograded tests for cells that check the student's code
• Use Manually graded answer for free-form questions or code that needs manual review
• Use Read-only for instructions or provided code that shouldn't be modified

Development

To build and test locally:

git clone <repository-url>
cd vscode-nbgrader
npm install
npm run compile

Press F5 to open a new VS Code window with the extension loaded.

Compatibility

This extension is designed to be fully compatible with the official nbgrader toolchain. You can:

1. Create assignments in VS Code using this extension
2. Process them with nbgrader generate_assignment
3. Grade them with nbgrader autograde and the formgrader
4. Switch between VS Code and JupyterLab seamlessly

Known Limitations

• Cell toolbar button appears on all cells (nbgrader-specific cells are marked via status bar)
• Cannot bulk-edit multiple cells at once (planned feature)
• No visual cell decorations beyond status bar (VS Code API limitation)

Related

• nbgrader Documentation
• nbgrader GitHub

License

BSD-3-Clause (matches nbgrader)