Git Issues for VS Code
Manage GitHub and GitLab issues directly from VS Code. Browse, create, edit, and comment on issues without leaving your editor.
Features
- Sidebar Issue List — View all issues in a dedicated sidebar with open/closed state icons
- GitHub & GitLab Support — Works with GitHub.com, GitLab.com, and self-hosted GitLab instances
- Create Issues — Create new issues directly from VS Code (auto-assigned to you), with optional template picker for repos that ship
.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/*.md or .gitlab/issue_templates/*.md
- Edit Issues — Update title, description, labels, and assignees via dropdown selectors
- Comment — Add comments to issues without switching to the browser
- Write / Preview — Toggle between Markdown source and rendered preview in the comment editor and issue edit form
- Slash-Command Helper — Insert common GitLab quick actions (
/close, /assign, /label, /milestone, …) from a Quick Pick. GitLab parses them on submit; for GitHub the picker shows that the snippets are inserted as plain text
- Search & Filter — Full-text search across loaded issues, plus filters for state (open/closed/all), sort (created/updated/comments), user scope (assigned to me / created by me / everyone), labels (multi-select) and milestone
- Open in Browser — Quickly jump to the issue in your browser
- Assignment Indicator — Issues assigned to you are marked with a person icon in the sidebar; a one-click toggle in the title bar limits the list to your issues
- File Upload (GitLab) — Drag-and-drop, paste images from the clipboard, or pick a file when commenting on or editing GitLab issues
- Multi-Repo Workspaces — Detects all git repos in your workspace, including nested ones (monorepos with sibling repos like
app/, api/, site/). The active repo follows your editor; pin a specific one via Git Issues: Select Repository.
- Multiple GitLab Instances — Configure separate Personal Access Tokens per host (e.g.
gitlab.com and your self-hosted gitlab.example.com). The right token is picked automatically based on each repo's git remote.
Getting Started
- Install the extension
- Open a project with a GitHub or GitLab remote
- Authenticate via the command palette:
Git Issues: Sign in to GitHub / Configure Token — for GitHub repos. Pick Sign in with GitHub to authenticate via VS Code's built-in GitHub account (no token needed) or Enter Personal Access Token for GitHub Enterprise / fine-grained scopes.Git Issues: Configure GitLab Token — for GitLab repos (you'll be asked which host the token belongs to; the active repo's host is pre-filled)
- Your issues appear in the Git Issues sidebar
When you sign in via the VS Code GitHub account, the extension reuses your existing session — sign-in/sign-out from the Accounts menu in the activity bar takes effect immediately, no reload needed. Personal Access Tokens (GitHub PATs and all GitLab tokens) are stored securely in VS Code Secret Storage. GitLab tokens are stored per host, so you can have separate tokens for gitlab.com, gitlab.example.com and any other instance.
Managing Multiple GitLab Tokens
- Run
Git Issues: Configure GitLab Token once per host. The extension stores tokens under a host-specific key (gitIssues.gitlab.token:<host>).
- When opening a repo, the extension matches the token to the host of the git
origin remote — no need to switch tokens manually.
- Use
Git Issues: Manage GitLab Tokens to list configured hosts and remove tokens you no longer need.
- Existing single-token setups keep working as a read-only fallback until you save a host-specific token or remove the legacy entry from the manage dialog.
Authentication & Token Permissions
- GitHub (recommended): Use Sign in with GitHub — VS Code handles the OAuth flow and requests
repo and read:org scopes automatically. No token to manage, copy, or rotate.
- GitHub (PAT alternative): Required for GitHub Enterprise or when you want narrower scopes. Create a Personal Access Token with
repo scope.
- GitLab: Create a Personal Access Token with
api scope.
Settings
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
gitIssues.gitlab.url |
https://gitlab.com |
GitLab instance URL (for self-hosted) |
gitIssues.defaultState |
open |
Default issue filter: open, closed, or all |
gitIssues.defaultSort |
created |
Sort order: created, updated, or comments |
gitIssues.autoRefreshInterval |
0 |
Auto-refresh in seconds (0 = disabled) |
Commands
All commands are available via the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P):
- Git Issues: Refresh Issues — Reload the issue list
- Git Issues: Search Issues — Filter the loaded issue list by title,
#number, author login, label or assignee (also available as a 🔍 icon in the view title bar)
- Git Issues: Clear Search — Remove the active search filter (replaces the search icon while a query is active)
- Git Issues: Create Issue — Create a new issue. If
.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/*.md (GitHub) or .gitlab/issue_templates/*.md (GitLab) are present in the active repo, you can pick a template (or "Blank issue") that pre-fills title, body and labels.
- Git Issues: Filter Issues — Change state, sort and user-scope (Everyone / Assigned to me / Created by me) in one dialog
- Git Issues: Toggle My Issues — One-click toggle in the title bar that limits the list to issues assigned to you (icon switches to filled when active)
- Git Issues: Filter by Labels — Multi-select Quick Pick over all repository labels (server-side filter)
- Git Issues: Filter by Milestone — Pick a single milestone (with a "Clear" entry) to scope the list (server-side filter)
- Git Issues: Select Repository — In multi-repo workspaces, pick which repo's issues to show (also available as a 📁 icon in the view title bar when more than one repo is detected). Once picked, the choice is persisted per workspace and disables auto-follow.
- Git Issues: Create Branch from Issue — Create and switch to a new branch named after an issue (right-click an issue in the sidebar)
- Git Issues: Open in Browser — Open the selected issue in your default browser (also available as a 🌐 icon next to issues in the sidebar)
- Git Issues: Sign in to GitHub / Configure Token — Sign in via VS Code's GitHub account (recommended) or paste a Personal Access Token
- Git Issues: Configure GitLab Token — Set a GitLab PAT for a specific host (supports multiple GitLab instances)
- Git Issues: Manage GitLab Tokens — List and remove configured GitLab tokens per host
Multi-Repo Workspaces
If your workspace contains multiple git repositories (e.g. a parent folder with app/, api/, site/ siblings, each with their own origin), the extension picks the active repo automatically:
- The repo you previously pinned via
Git Issues: Select Repository (persisted per workspace)
- The repo containing the file in the active editor (auto-follows when you switch editors)
- A non-worktree repo as a sane default
The Quick Pick (Git Issues: Select Repository, or the repo icon in the view's title bar) lets you override this at any time.
License
MIT
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