Workday Developer Toolkit

Language support, live app preview, and file icons for Workday Build applications, in VS Code or any VS Code-compatible IDE.

Overview

The Workday Developer Toolkit brings full editing support for Workday Build project files into your IDE. It includes syntax highlighting, diagnostics, autocomplete, and schema validation for every file type in a Workday Build app, plus a live app preview you can launch without leaving your editor. It works in VS Code and any VS Code-compatible IDE (e.g., Cursor, Google Antigravity), and is designed to be used alongside the Workday Developer Agent for a complete Workday Build development experience in one place.

Features

Language support for Workday Build files

Syntax highlighting, diagnostics, and autocomplete for the file types used in a Workday Build application.

JSON schema validation gives you inline validation and IntelliSense in the JSON-based metadata files.

Live App Preview

Run Workday Extend: Start App Preview from the Command Palette to launch the Workday CLI's live preview server in an integrated terminal, without leaving your IDE. Requires the Workday CLI (wdcli) to be installed -- see Requirements below.

Workday File Icons

A dedicated file icon theme so your Workday Build files are easy to pick out in the Explorer. Enable it via "File > Preferences > File Icon Theme > Workday".

Requirements

IDE VS Code 1.83 or later, Cursor, Google Antigravity, or another open-vsx compatible IDE.
Java 17 or later required for the language server.
Workday Developer CLI (WDCLI) installed and available on your PATH, required for App Preview.

Installation

Install from the VS Code Marketplace, or from Open VSX if your IDE uses it (e.g., Cursor):

Open the Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X).
Search for Workday Toolkit and install it.
Reload the window if prompted.

Getting Started

Open a Workday Build app -- a folder containing an appManifest.json -- in your IDE. The extension activates automatically.
Open any supported file type to get syntax highlighting and language server support.
Run Workday Extend: Start App Preview from the Command Palette to preview your app live.

Extension Settings

Setting	Description	Default
`workday.lsp.trace.level`	Trace level for the Workday language server (`off`, `messages`, `compact`, `verbose`)	`off`

Commands

Command	Description
Workday Extend: Start App Preview	Launches a live preview of your Workday Build app in an integrated terminal.

Troubleshooting

No diagnostics or autocomplete: the language server needs Java 17 or later. Set JAVA_HOME to a Java 17+ installation, or make sure java is on your PATH, then reload the window.
Language server failed to download: the extension falls back to the last version it downloaded successfully. Check your network connection and reload the window. Details are in the Workday Toolkit output channel.
App Preview closes immediately: confirm wdcli is installed and on your PATH, and that no other preview server is already running on the same port.

Feedback & Support

Questions and feedback are welcome on the Workday Developer Forum.

Learn more about Workday Build and the Workday Toolkit on the Workday Developer Site.