My Env Injector

A VS Code Extension for Injecting Environment Variables into Other Extensions

⚠️ Important Warning: Code Modification and Potential Risks ⚠️

This extension modifies the code of other locally installed VS Code extensions. While it's designed to do so safely, there is a potential risk of damaging or corrupting the target extensions. Incorrect configuration or unexpected updates to target extensions could lead to malfunctions or instability. Use this extension with extreme caution and at your own risk. If you encounter issues with other extensions, please follow the recovery steps mentioned below.

Description

My Env Injector is a VS Code extension designed to inject environment variables into other installed VS Code extensions. This can be particularly useful in scenarios where you need to modify the behavior of an extension by providing specific environment variables, such as setting up HTTP/HTTPS proxies, API keys, or other configuration parameters.

Key Features:

• Configuration-Driven: You specify which extensions to modify and the environment variables to inject directly within VS Code's settings (settings.json).
• Explicit Targets: You must explicitly add the target extension and environment variables to the myEnvInjector.targets array in your settings.json file.
• Custom Extension Parent Directory: You can specify the parent directory of VS Code extensions through the myEnvInjector.extensionParentDir setting in your settings.json file. This is useful if your extensions are not installed in the default location.
• Automatic Re-injection: The extension automatically re-injects the environment variables when you modify its configuration or if the target extensions are updated.
• Clean Injection: It uses marker comments (// --- My Env Injector Start --- and // --- My Env Injector End ---) to identify and update the injected code, ensuring clean and manageable modifications.
• Python-Powered Modification: It uses a Python script (modifyExtension.py) for file system modifications, as the VS Code API doesn't directly allow file system changes outside the extension's workspace.
• Support for Multiple Extensions: You can set environment variables for multiple extensions simultaneously.
• Persisted Extension Status: The extension tracks the injection status of each target extension, providing clear feedback on whether the injection was successful or not.
• Reload Prompt: After successful injection or configuration change, the extension prompts you to reload the VS Code window to apply the changes.
• Error handling: Show warning message if the target extension is not found.

How It Works

1. Configuration: You need to add the target extensions and the environment variables to the myEnvInjector.targets array in your settings.json file. If your extensions are not in the default path, you should also set myEnvInjector.extensionParentDir to the correct location.

   {
     "myEnvInjector.extensionParentDir": "/path/to/your/vscode/extensions", // Optional: specify custom parent directory
     "myEnvInjector.targets": [
       {
         "extensionName": "google.geminicodeassist",
         "envVars": {
           "HTTP_PROXY": "http://127.0.0.1:8001",
           "HTTPS_PROXY": "http://127.0.0.1:8001",
           "MY_CUSTOM_VAR": "my_custom_value"
         }
       },
       {
           "extensionName": "some.other.extension",
           "envVars": {
               "API_KEY": "your_api_key"
           }
       }
     ]
   }
   

2. Activation: When VS Code starts, My Env Injector activates and reads its configuration.

3. Finding Targets:

   • It tries to find the installation directory of the specified target extensions.
   • It will first try to use the directory specified in myEnvInjector.extensionParentDir.
   • If myEnvInjector.extensionParentDir is not set or invalid, it falls back to the default VS Code extensions directory.
   • Error handling: If the target extension is not found, a warning message will be showed.

4. Modification: For each target extension, it runs the Python script (modifyExtension.py) that performs the following steps:

   • Reads the extension.js file of the target extension (usually located in dist/extension.js within the extension's directory).
   • Finds and removes any previously injected code using the marker comments (// --- My Env Injector Start --- and // --- My Env Injector End ---).
   • Injects the new environment variable assignments using process.env.<VAR_NAME> = '<VALUE>'; at the beginning of the file.
   • Writes the modified extension.js file back to disk.

5. Configuration Change: If you change the myEnvInjector.targets or myEnvInjector.extensionParentDir settings, the extension will automatically re-inject the environment variables.

6. Status Update: The plugin will show corresponding messages based on the status of each extension.

7. Reload: After a successful injection or configuration change, a notification will prompt you to reload the VS Code window to ensure the changes take effect.

Recovery Steps: Fixing Damaged Extensions

If you experience problems with an extension after using My Env Injector, follow these steps to restore it:

1. Disable My Env Injector: Go to the Extensions view in VS Code and disable My Env Injector.
2. Locate the Damaged Extension's Installation Directory: VS Code retains the last installed version of an extension even after uninstallation. Simply uninstalling and reinstalling won't revert the changes made by My Env Injector. You need to manually delete the modified files.
   • If you set myEnvInjector.extensionParentDir in settings, use that directory.
   • Otherwise, locate your VS Code extension directory. The default paths are typically:
     • Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.vscode\extensions
     • macOS: ~/.vscode/extensions
     • Linux: ~/.vscode/extensions
3. Find the Extension's Folder: Within the extensions directory, find the folder corresponding to the damaged extension. The folder name will follow a format like publisher.extension-name-version (e.g., google.geminicodeassist-0.1.0).
4. Delete the Extension Folder: Once you have found the right extension folder, delete it entirely from your file system.
5. Reinstall the Extension: Go back to VS Code, open the Extensions view, and reinstall the extension you just removed. This will download a fresh, unmodified copy.

Explanation: VS Code keeps a copy of the last installed version of an extension locally. This means uninstalling through the UI doesn't fully remove the modified files. By deleting the extension folder manually, you remove the modified version and force VS Code to download a clean copy upon reinstallation.

Reference: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/36746857/completely-uninstall-vs-code-extensions

Prerequisites

• Node.js and npm: Required for building and developing the VS Code extension.
• Python 3: Required for running the modifyExtension.py script.
• VS Code: Obviously.

Building and Running the Extension

1. Clone the Repository (or Download the Project):

   git clone <repository-url> # Replace <repository-url> with your repository URL
   cd my-env-injector
   

2. Install Dependencies:

   npm install
   

3. Compile the TypeScript Code:

   npm run compile
   

   Or use the watch mode for development:

   npm run watch
   

   The compiled JavaScript code will be placed in the out/ directory.

4. Run and Debug the Extension:

   • Open the project in VS Code.
   • Go to the Run and Debug view (Ctrl+Shift+D or Cmd+Shift+D).
   • Select "Run Extension" from the dropdown.
   • Press F5 to start debugging.

   This will open a new VS Code window (the Extension Development Host) where you can test your extension.

5. Configuration: Open your settings.json file (File -> Preferences -> Settings -> Open Settings (JSON)) and add your configuration to the myEnvInjector.targets and optionally the myEnvInjector.extensionParentDir settings as described above.

Publishing to Marketplace

Please follow these steps to publish the extension to the VS Code Marketplace:

1. Make sure you have vsce (Visual Studio Code Extensions CLI) installed. If not, run:

   npm install -g @vscode/vsce
   

2. Create a Personal Access Token (PAT) in Azure DevOps with "Marketplace (Acquire, manage)" scope with Read & Publish permission.
3. Create a publisher in VS Code Marketplace Publisher Management page.
4. Modify package.json, adding fields publisher, categories, icon, repository, keywords if needed.
5. Create a CHANGELOG.md and describe the changes you made.
6. Run vsce login YOUR_PUBLISHER_ID to login.
7. Run vsce package to package the extension.
8. Run vsce publish to publish the extension.
9. Visit https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/manage/publishers to check the publish status.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you find any issues or have suggestions for improvements, please open an issue or submit a pull request on the project's repository.