A VS Code extension that replaces the raw dotnet build terminal output with clean, colored, and fully customizable formatting — powered by a custom task type you control from tasks.json.
Features
- Filter output — show everything, warnings + errors only, or errors only
- Custom templates — format each error/warning line with
{token} placeholders
- ANSI colors — per-severity colors, configurable globally or per task
- Problems panel — errors and warnings are pushed to the VS Code Problems tab in real time
- Pass-through args — any extra
dotnet build arguments are supported via extraArgs
Quick start
Add a task to your project's .vscode/tasks.json:
{
"version": "2.0.0",
"tasks": [
{
"label": "build",
"type": "dotnet-build-formatted",
"project": "${workspaceFolder}/MyApp.sln",
"filter": "errorsOnly",
"showSummary": true,
"problemMatcher": "$msCompile",
"presentation": {
"reveal": "always",
"panel": "shared",
"clear": true,
"showReuseMessage": false
}
}
]
}
Run it via Terminal → Run Task or bind it to a keyboard shortcut.
Task properties
| Property |
Type |
Default |
Description |
project |
string |
${workspaceFolder} |
Path to .csproj, .sln, or directory |
filter |
all | errorsOnly | warningsAndErrors |
all |
Which lines to display |
errorTemplate |
string |
❌ {file}:{line}:{column} [{code}] {message} |
Template for error lines |
warningTemplate |
string |
⚠ {file}:{line}:{column} [{code}] {message} |
Template for warning lines |
infoTemplate |
string |
{message} |
Template for plain pass-through lines |
showSummary |
boolean |
true |
Show a colored build succeeded/failed line at the end |
verbosity |
quiet | minimal | normal | detailed | diagnostic |
minimal |
Passed as /verbosity:<level> |
noSummary |
boolean |
true |
Suppresses MSBuild's own summary block |
warningLevel |
number |
— |
Passed as /p:WarningLevel=<n> |
colors |
object |
(see below) |
Per-task color overrides |
extraArgs |
string[] |
[] |
Extra arguments appended to dotnet build |
Template tokens
Use these inside errorTemplate, warningTemplate, and infoTemplate:
| Token |
Value |
{severity} |
error, warning, or info |
{file} |
Filename only — e.g. Program.cs |
{filePath} |
Full path as reported by MSBuild |
{line} |
Line number |
{column} |
Column number |
{code} |
Diagnostic code — e.g. CS0103 |
{message} |
Diagnostic message text |
{project} |
.csproj path from the MSBuild [...] suffix |
Colors
Named colors available for all color properties:
red bright_red green bright_green yellow bright_yellow
blue bright_blue magenta bright_magenta cyan bright_cyan
white bright_white dim bold
Per-task override
"colors": {
"error": "bright_red",
"warning": "yellow",
"success": "bright_green",
"failure": "bright_red",
"info": "dim"
}
Global defaults (VS Code settings)
// settings.json
"dotnetBuildFormatter.colors.error": "bright_red",
"dotnetBuildFormatter.colors.warning": "yellow",
"dotnetBuildFormatter.colors.success": "bright_green",
"dotnetBuildFormatter.colors.failure": "bright_red",
"dotnetBuildFormatter.colors.info": "dim",
"dotnetBuildFormatter.defaultFilter": "all",
"dotnetBuildFormatter.defaultErrorTemplate": "❌ {file}:{line}:{column} [{code}] {message}",
"dotnetBuildFormatter.defaultWarningTemplate": "⚠ {file}:{line}:{column} [{code}] {message}"
Per-task colors always override the global settings.
Using environment variables
Define a shared project path once, reference it in multiple tasks:
{
"version": "2.0.0",
"options": {
"env": {
"project_file": "Web/Web.csproj"
}
},
"tasks": [
{
"label": "build:errors-only",
"type": "dotnet-build-formatted",
"project": "${env:project_file}",
"filter": "errorsOnly"
}
]
}
Note: VS Code does not automatically substitute ${env:...} tokens in CustomExecution tasks. This extension reads options.env from your tasks.json directly to bridge that gap.
Example tasks
Errors only, default colors
{
"label": "build:errors-only",
"type": "dotnet-build-formatted",
"project": "${workspaceFolder}",
"filter": "errorsOnly",
"showSummary": true,
"verbosity": "minimal",
"problemMatcher": "$msCompile"
}
Custom templates with emoji
{
"label": "build:custom",
"type": "dotnet-build-formatted",
"project": "${workspaceFolder}/MyApp.sln",
"filter": "warningsAndErrors",
"errorTemplate": "❌ {file}:{line}:{column} [{code}] {message}",
"warningTemplate": "⚠ {file}:{line} [{code}] {message}",
"showSummary": true,
"problemMatcher": "$msCompile"
}
Release build, no warnings
{
"label": "build:release",
"type": "dotnet-build-formatted",
"project": "${workspaceFolder}",
"filter": "errorsOnly",
"warningLevel": 0,
"extraArgs": ["--configuration", "Release", "--no-restore"],
"problemMatcher": "$msCompile"
}
Requirements
- .NET SDK installed and
dotnet on your PATH
- VS Code 1.85 or later
