Stata Console for VS Code

This extension embeds an interactive Stata session directly inside Visual Studio Code. Instead of switching between VS Code and Stata's GUI, you get a terminal, data viewer, variables panel, plots pane, and stored results inspector all within the editor.

The current design is inspired by Positron and how it integrates R into the IDE, i.e., a unified workspace where the console, environment, data viewer, and plots live alongside your code.

What it does

Right now, the extension does the following:

• Console. A pseudoterminal wraps Stata's command-line interface. You type commands, see output, and interact with Stata without leaving VS Code. The output is color-coded: commands in blue, errors in red, table separators in gray.
• Run code from the editor. Select lines in a .do file and press Cmd+Shift+D to execute them. Cmd+Enter runs the current line and advances the cursor. Right-click for context menu options. The extension writes your code to a temporary do-file and runs it, so comments (//, ///, /* */) work correctly.
• Data Viewer. Type browse in the console or include it in a do-file. Instead of failing (as it normally does in console mode), the extension exports the data to CSV and displays it in a spreadsheet-like panel with sortable columns, row numbers, search filtering, and a row count. Supports browse varlist if condition in range syntax. However, if you use dofiles within dofiles, the browse command won't work. I don't know how to fix it yet. So, just remove browse if you are running, for example, a 00_main.do
• Variables panel. Shows every variable in the loaded dataset with its name, type, and label. Click a variable to insert its name at the cursor. Auto-refreshes after each code execution.
• Dataset info. Displays the filename, observation count, variable count, and data label. The status bar also shows this at a glance.
• Stored results. After running a regression or estimation command, the panel shows e() scalars (N, R-squared, F-statistic, etc.) and macros (command name, dependent variable, etc.). Updates automatically.
• Plots. Every graph command (scatter, histogram, twoway, graph bar, etc.) is captured and displayed in a side panel. Multiple plots are preserved in a navigable history with back/forward buttons and a save option. A plots list in the sidebar shows all generated plots with timestamps. You can also remove the plots if you don't want them to be kept in the side panel.
• Syntax highlighting. Full TextMate grammar for .do, .ado, .mata, and .sthlp files covering commands, comments, strings, macros, numbers, operators, and control flow.
• Auto-completion. Over 120 Stata commands with descriptions — data management, estimation, post-estimation, graphics, programming, and more. Type reg and see regress — Linear regression (OLS).
• Snippets. 19 templates for common patterns: foreach, forvalues, program...end, reghdfe, merge, collapse, twoway graph, do-file header with date and project paths, preserve...restore, and others. Type the prefix and press Tab.
• Hover help. Hover over any Stata command to see a brief description.
• Outline. The Outline panel (Cmd+Shift+O) shows the structure of your do-file: section headers, program definitions, and loops. Section detection works with common Stata conventions — numbered sections (* 1. Title), separator-bordered sections (* --- Title ---), and ALL CAPS headers.
• Go to definition. Cmd+Click on a program name to jump to its program define in the same file.
• File links. Paths in do, run, use, save, import using, graph export, and similar commands are clickable — Cmd+Click to open the referenced file. I haven not tested this with globals.
• Error diagnostics. When Stata returns an error, the offending line in the editor gets a red underline with the error message. Cleared on the next run.

Keyboard shortcuts

All shortcuts can be customized via Cmd+K Cmd+S (Keyboard Shortcuts).

Sidebar panels

The Stata icon in the Activity Bar opens four panels:

• Data — dataset name, observations, variables, label
• Variables — variable list with types, labels, and icons
• Stored Results — estimation scalars and macros after regressions
• Plots — history of generated plots (click to view, trash icon to clear)

Settings

Auto-detection searches standard macOS installation paths for Stata versions 14 through 19. Console colors take effect when the Stata console is opened or restarted.

How it works

The extension spawns Stata in console mode (stata-mp -q) as a child process with piped stdin/stdout. User code is written to temporary do-files and executed via Stata's do command, preserving full comment and continuation syntax.

After each execution, a silent post-processing step runs via Stata's run command (which produces zero output). This extracts variable metadata, dataset info, estimation results, and captures graphs — all without any visible terminal noise.

Graph commands are detected in the code and a graph export is injected after each one, writing to uniquely-named PNG files. A filesystem watcher detects new files and displays them immediately.

The browse command is intercepted and replaced with an export delimited that writes a CSV, which the Data Viewer renders as a sortable table.

Right now, this extension is slower than regular Stata. That's it, that's the message. Up to you how you want to use it.

Known limitations

• browse in nested do-files. When a do-file calls do "other.do", the extension cannot intercept browse inside the nested file because Stata reads it directly from disk. Use browse interactively or in directly-run code.
• Graphs from nested do-files. Only the last graph from a nested do call is captured (via the post-execution fallback). Directly-run code captures every graph.
• Stored results. Only e() scalars and macros are shown. r() return values are not currently captured.
• Go to definition. Works within the current file only.

Installation

From the Marketplace: Search for "Stata Console" in the VS Code Extensions panel (Cmd+Shift+X), or visit the marketplace page.

From a .vsix file: Download the latest .vsix from GitHub Releases, then run:

code --install-extension stata-console-0.3.0.vsix

From source:

git clone https://github.com/RRMaximiliano/stata-console.git
cd stata-console
npm install
npm run compile

Then open the folder in VS Code and press F5 to launch the Extension Development Host.

Requirements

• macOS only — this extension has only been tested on macOS. Windows and Linux are not currently supported. On Windows, Stata is a GUI application and does not provide the console-mode interface that this extension relies on. Contributions for Windows/Linux support are welcome.
• Stata 14 or later (MP, SE, or BE) installed on your system
• VS Code 1.80.0 or later

Acknowledgments

The workspace layout — with a variables panel, data viewer, and plots pane alongside the console — is directly inspired by Positron and how it integrates R. The idea of run for silent background commands, inline graph capture, and auto-refreshing metadata all came from studying how Positron achieves a seamless R development experience without polluting the console.

The extension was built to bring a similar level of integration to Stata, a tool that has traditionally required its own standalone GUI.

Note. I don't think I will have the time to continue with this project, but you are more than welcome to fork this extension and make it as you wish.