PowerShell Language Support for Visual Studio Code

This extension provides rich PowerShell language support for Visual Studio Code. Now you can write and debug PowerShell scripts using the excellent IDE-like interface that Visual Studio Code provides.

This extension is powered by the PowerShell language server, PowerShell Editor Services. This leverages the Language Server Protocol where PowerShellEditorServices is the server and vscode-powershell is the client.

Platform support

Windows 7 through 10 with Windows PowerShell v3 and higher, and PowerShell Core
Linux with PowerShell Core (all PowerShell-supported distributions)
macOS and OS X with PowerShell Core

Read the installation instructions to get more details on how to use the extension on these platforms.

Read the FAQ for answers to common questions.

Features

Syntax highlighting
Code snippets
IntelliSense for cmdlets and more
Rule-based analysis provided by PowerShell Script Analyzer
Go to Definition of cmdlets and variables
Find References of cmdlets and variables
Document and workspace symbol discovery
Run selected selection of PowerShell code using F8
Launch online help for the symbol under the cursor using Ctrl+F1
Local script debugging and basic interactive console support!

Installing the Extension

You can install the official release of the PowerShell extension by following the steps in the Visual Studio Code documentation. In the Extensions pane, search for "PowerShell" extension and install it there. You will get notified automatically about any future extension updates!

You can also install a VSIX package from our Releases page by following the Install from a VSIX instructions. The easiest way is through the command line:

code --install-extension PowerShell-<version>.vsix

NOTE: If you are using VS Code Insiders, the command will be code-insiders.

Script-based Installation

If you're on Windows 7 or greater with the PowerShellGet module installed, you can easily install both Visual Studio Code and the PowerShell extension by running the following command:

Install-Script Install-VSCode -Scope CurrentUser; Install-VSCode.ps1

You will need to accept the prompts that appear if this is your first time running the Install-Script command.

Alternatively you can download and execute the script directly from the web without the use of Install-Script. However we highly recommend that you read the script first before running it in this way!

iex (iwr https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PowerShell/vscode-powershell/master/scripts/Install-VSCode.ps1)

Reporting Problems

If you experience any problems with the PowerShell Extension, see the troubleshooting docs for information on diagnosing and reporting issues.

Security Note

For any security issues, please see here.

Example Scripts

There are some example scripts in the extension's examples folder that you can use to discover PowerShell editing and debugging functionality. Please check out the included README.md file to learn more about how to use them.

This folder can be found at the following path:

$HOME/.vscode[-insiders]/extensions/ms-vscode.PowerShell-<version>/examples

or if you're using the preview version of the extension

$HOME/.vscode[-insiders]/extensions/ms-vscode.powershell-preview-<version>/examples

To open/view the extension's examples in Visual Studio Code, run the following from your PowerShell command prompt:

code (Get-ChildItem $Home\.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode.PowerShell-*\examples)[-1]

Contributing to the Code

Check out the development documentation for more details on how to contribute to this extension!

Maintainers

License

This extension is licensed under the MIT License. Please see the third-party notices file for details on the third-party binaries that we include with releases of this project.

Code of Conduct

This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. For more information see the Code of Conduct FAQ or contact opencode@microsoft.com with any additional questions or comments.