Tasks Launcher

A Visual Studio Code extension that provides a convenient status bar button with dropdown menu for executing npm tasks and VSCode tasks from your project.

Features

• Status Bar Integration: Quick access via a "Run Task" button in the status bar
• Task Selection: Choose which npm tasks and VSCode tasks to display in the dropdown menu
• One-Click Execution: Run npm tasks and VSCode tasks with a single click
• Terminal Integration: Tasks execute in VSCode's integrated terminal
• Workspace Configuration: Different task selections per project

Installation

From VSCode Marketplace

1. Open VSCode
2. Go to Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X)
3. Search for "Tasks Launcher"
4. Click Install

From VSIX Package

1. Download the .vsix file from releases
2. Open VSCode
3. Go to Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X)
4. Click the "..." menu and select "Install from VSIX..."
5. Select the downloaded .vsix file

Usage

Initial Setup

1. Open a project that contains a package.json file with scripts or .vscode/tasks.json file
2. Look for the "Run Task" button in the status bar (bottom of VSCode)
3. Click the button to open the dropdown menu
4. Select "Select npm Tasks" or "Select VSCode Tasks" to choose which tasks to display

Running Tasks

1. Click the "Run Task" button in the status bar
2. Choose a task from the dropdown menu
3. The task will execute in a new terminal tab

Managing Selected Tasks

1. Click "Run Task" → "Select npm Tasks" or "Select VSCode Tasks"
2. Check/uncheck tasks you want to show in the dropdown
3. Click OK to save your selection

Configuration

The extension stores your task selections in the workspace configuration. You can also manually edit the settings:

{
  "scriptsLauncher.selectedTasks": [
    "build",
    "test",
    "start"
  ],
  "scriptsLauncher.selectedVSCodeTasks": [
    "compile",
    "watch"
  ]
}

Requirements

• Visual Studio Code 1.74.0 or higher
• A project with a package.json file containing scripts and/or .vscode/tasks.json file
• Node.js and npm installed (for npm task execution)

Extension Settings

This extension contributes the following settings:

• scriptsLauncher.selectedTasks: Array of npm task names to show in the dropdown menu
• scriptsLauncher.selectedVSCodeTasks: Array of VSCode task names to show in the dropdown menu

Known Issues

• npm tasks must be defined in the root package.json file
• VSCode tasks must be defined in .vscode/tasks.json file
• Only npm tasks are currently supported for package.json (yarn/pnpm support planned)

Release Notes

1.0.0

Initial release of Tasks Launcher

• Status bar button with dropdown menu
• Task selection interface for npm and VSCode tasks
• Terminal integration for task execution
• Workspace-level configuration

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see the development guide for setup instructions.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Add tests
5. Submit a pull request

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Support

If you encounter any issues or have feature requests, please:

1. Check the known issues section
2. Search existing GitHub issues
3. Create a new issue if needed

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for a detailed history of changes.