Go Target Launcher

Go Target Launcher is a small VS Code extension for running, debugging and profiling Go programs and keeping frequently used workspace commands in one place. It adds a clickable Run / Debug / Profile action next to every Go package main file.

Features

• Run a Go main file without debugging — it runs in the same RUN AND DEBUG panel and Debug Console as a debug session, but never stops on breakpoints (golang.Go extension required).
• Debug a Go main file via the VS Code Go debugger (golang.Go extension required).
• Profile a Go main file: captures a CPU profile and opens go tool pprof -http in the browser.
• Launch configured workspace commands from the Command Palette, the status bar, or a CodeLens.

Configuration

Add commands to workspace or user settings:

{
  "go-target-launcher.commands": [
    {
      "label": "Run example",
      "command": "go run ./cmd/main.go",
      "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}/example",
      "description": "Runs the example program"
    },
    {
      "label": "Run all tests",
      "command": "go test ./...",
      "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}/example"
    }
  ]
}

Each command supports:

• label — the name shown in Go Target Launcher.
• command — the shell command to run.
• cwd — an optional working directory; defaults to the workspace folder.
• description — optional text shown next to the command.

${workspaceFolder} can be used in command and cwd. By default, commands share one terminal. Disable go-target-launcher.reuseTerminal to create a separate terminal for every run.

Other settings:

• go-target-launcher.profileDuration — CPU profile duration in seconds (default 30).
• go-target-launcher.profileOutputDir — where cpu.pprof is written (default ${workspaceFolder}/.go-profile).

Usage

• Run / Debug / Profile a Go main file — click the CodeLens next to the package main line, or run the matching command from the Command Palette (Go Target Launcher: Run Main / Debug Main / Profile Main).
• Run a workspace command — from the Command Palette (Go Target Launcher: Run Command…) or by clicking the Go Target Launcher entry in the status bar.
• Configure — use Go Target Launcher: Configure Commands to open the settings.

A file is treated as a Go main file when it starts with package main and declares func main().

How the working directory is resolved

Run, Debug and Profile all execute from the module root — the nearest directory containing a go.mod, searched upward from the main file. This makes relative config files, data directories and os.Getwd() based paths behave exactly like running the program from the project root, no matter where the main.go file lives.

Profile mode compiles a test binary (go test -c) with a temporary test wrapper injected through go test -overlay (your project files are never modified), then runs that binary from the module root. It captures a CPU profile for go-target-launcher.profileDuration seconds and opens the interactive go tool pprof -http web UI.

Development

npm install
npm run check
npm run build

Press F5 to open an Extension Development Host. The example folder contains a small Go project (example/cmd/main.go) you can use to try Run / Debug / Profile. See PUBLISHING.md for release instructions.