Support virtual workspaces

[lszomoru]

👋 Hi there, Martin here, from the VS Code team.

Recently we've announced the Remote Repository feature that lets you browse and edit files and folders directly on GitHub.

Open Remote Repository... opens VSCode on a folder or workspace located on a virtual file system. We call this a virtual workspace. We observed that not all extension support this well, either because they can not, or they haven't thought about it.

It would be fantastic if you could test whether your extension can handle virtual workspaces:

Check out the Virtual Workspaces Extension Author Guide on how to do that.

When done, set the new virtualWorkspaces capability in your 'package.json'.

{
  "capabilities": {
    "virtualWorkspaces": true | false
  }
}

• Use "virtualWorkspaces": true if your extension is prepared for virtual workspaces
• Use "virtualWorkspaces": false if your extension should be disabled when a virtual workspace is opened

For questions and comments please use the Virtual Workspaces Tracking Issue.

Thanks for the support and the great work! ❤️

[aeschli]

Thanks for adopting the virtualWorkspaces capability!

It's now also possible to give a description why the capability is enabled or disabled:

{
  "capabilities": {
    "virtualWorkspaces": {
      "supported": false,
      "description": "Debugging is not possible in virtual workspaces."
    }
  }
}

{
  "capabilities": {
    "virtualWorkspaces": {
      "supported": "limited",
      "description": "In virtual workspaces, resolving and finding references across files is not supported."
    }
  }
}

This message can be seen in the extensions view:

[aeschli]

I forgot to mention that the new format is only supported in >= 1.57 (insiders)

[github-actions[bot]]

Hi @lszomoru, I'm an AI Support assistant here to help with your issue. While the team reviews your request, I wanted to provide some possible tips and documentation that might help you in the meantime.

Recommendations

• Follow the Virtual Workspaces Extension Author Guide to ensure your extension works on a virtual file system: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/wiki/Virtual-Workspaces

• Test your extension in a virtual workspace by using File → Open Remote Repository... in VS Code (see the Remote Repositories announcement): https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_56#_remote-repositories-remotehub

• In your extension’s package.json, declare the virtualWorkspaces capability:

{
  "capabilities": {
    "virtualWorkspaces": true  // set to false to disable in virtual workspaces
  }
}

Duplicates

These issues use the same “Support virtual workspaces” request:

• https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-spring-initializr/issues/185
• https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-java-test/issues/1195
• https://github.com/redhat-developer/vscode-java/issues/1936
• https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-spring-boot-dashboard/issues/132
• https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-maven/issues/627

Other References with High Confidence

• VS Code Remote Repositories feature overview: https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_56#_remote-repositories-remotehub

The team will respond to your issue shortly. I hope these suggestions are helpful in the meantime. If this comment helped you, please give it a 👍. If the suggestion was not helpful or incorrect, please give it a 👎. Your feedback helps us improve!