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Is there a way to execute an ssh command when debugging a project with .vscode/launch.json?

For example: ssh -i xxxxx.

Or is it possible to create a command that you can run from the F1 command palette pop-up? Something like RunCustomCommandxx.

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8 Answers 8

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171

You can define a task in your tasks.json file and specify that as the preLaunchTask in your launch.json and the task will be executed before debugging begins.

Example:

In tasks.json:

For version 0.1.0:

{ "version": "0.1.0", "tasks": [{ "taskName": "echotest", "command": "echo", // Could be any other shell command "args": ["test"], "isShellCommand": true }] }

For version 2.0.0 (newer and recommended):

{ "version": "2.0.0", "tasks": [{ "label": "echotest", "command": "echo", // Could be any other shell command "args": ["test"], "type": "shell" }] }

In launch.json:

{ "configurations": [ { // ... "preLaunchTask": "echotest", // The name of the task defined above // ... } ] }

Tasks documentation: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/tasks

Launch configuration: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/debugging#_launch-configurations

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6 Comments

Hi Saravana, thanks for the response, Im getting a error: Failed to launch external program ssh -i ~/.ssh/some_key -L 3307:127.0.0.1:3306 [email protected] . spawn ssh -i ~/.ssh/some_key -L 3307:127.0.0.1:3306 [email protected] ENOENT
Make sure ssh is in your path. Or give the absolute path in your command.
@user3466947, isn't Address already in use saying you enough? Connect to the machine with ssh and try netstat -lnpt to see if the process is already using the address.
Which type of launch configuration do you use? The ones I have (e.g., python) require a "program" path...I guess I could just set it to a dummy python file. But, I don't really even want to engage the debugger, just run my task.
I believe this is out-of-date, now you can use type: node-terminal as described below.
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The format changed. Visual Studio Code can create the tasks.json file for you. Inside your launch.json file and inside any configurations object, just define preLaunchTask to force auto-creation of the tasks.json template file:

{ "version": "0.2.0", "configurations": [ { "type": "node", "request": "launch", "name": "launch program", "skipFiles": [ "<node_internals>/**"], "preLaunchTask": "myShellCommand", "program": "${workspaceFolder}/test.js" } ] }

If you do not have file tasks.json configured:

  • launch the debugger. Visual Studio Code will inform you: "could not find the task myShellCommand"
  • select Configure Task → Create tasks.json file from template → Others

Your tasks.json template file will then be created for you. Add your command to command and the name you put in preLaunchTask to label:

{ "version": "2.0.0", "tasks": [ { "label": "myShellCommand", "type": "shell", "command": "echo goodfood" } ] }
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in launch.json of .vscode: can I remove the program key because I just want to run the prelaunchtask as described?
Any idea how I could do this without installing node? Seems heavy handed when I just need to run a shell script. I get the error "Can't find Node.js binary "node": path does not exist."
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Yes, it's possible. Just use:

"type": "node-terminal"

(don't worry it says 'node-terminal', it should work out-of-the-box in VS Code)

and specify your command in "command" property:

"command": "ssh -i xxxx"

Hope it helps.

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5 Comments

This is the most elegant way out of all the other solutions IMO
I can't get rid of a prompt "... is already running" when starting a program second time. Has to close the terminal from each start, before running the next one.
@Basilevs I ran into the same issue. It seems like node-terminal opens a new, interactive shell session and pastes the command into it, and then waits for the shell session to end. The solution is to add ; exit to the end of your command, e.g. "command": "ssh -i xxxx; exit".
Or use && exit if you want to keep the terminal around if the command failed, so you can see the output.
this is the solution for me to run gunicorn commadline.
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{ "version": "0.2.0", "configurations": [ { "name": "Launch app", "program": "lib/main.dart", "request": "launch", "type": "dart" }, { "name": "Build an APK Release", "command": "flutter build apk --release", "request": "launch", "type": "node-terminal" }, { "name": "Install an APK on a device", "command": "flutter install", "request": "launch", "type": "node-terminal" } ] }
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Just adding on to say that the "node-terminal" part can be used for any shell command, and the "node" part seems to be entirely irrelevant.
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For me, I just needed an environment variable, which is different. You don't want a task for this because (at least for me) it doesn't work when the launcher is run.

Thanks to here, I got it working like this, inside my launcher (launch.json) entry:

"environment": [{ "name": "ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLE_NAME", "value": "${workspaceFolder}/lib" //Set to whatever value you want. }],
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6

My version of the configuration allows to just run a defined task and carried on (in my case, the task is to run the currently open Groovy file):

"configurations": [ { "name": "Launch groovy", "request": "launch", "type": "coreclr", "preLaunchTask": "groovy", "program": "cmd.exe", "args": ["/c"], "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}", "console": "internalConsole", "internalConsoleOptions": "neverOpen" } ]

And the task:

"tasks": [ { "label": "groovy", "type": "shell", "command": "groovy ${file}" } ]
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I did this, and my tasks command is ran, however it does not carry on to launch the python file debugging. Any idea why?
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To create a launch configuration, use the PowerShell Visual Studio extension and place your commands in the script.

launch.json

{ "version": "0.2.0", "configurations": [ { "name": "Build and run", "type": "PowerShell", "request": "launch", "script": " ${workspaceFolder}\\launch.ps1", } ] }

launch.ps1

Start-Process -FilePath ssh -ArgumentList "-i","xxxxx" -NoNewWindow
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1

for flutter developers who is searching how to run flutter build commands. in tasks.json add

"tasks": [ { "type": "flutter", "command": "flutter", "args": [ "pub", "run", "build_runner", "build", "--delete-conflicting-outputs" ], "problemMatcher": [ "$dart-build_runner" ], "group": "build", "label": "flutter: flutter pub run build_runner build --delete-conflicting-outputs" }, ]

then from vscode you can try "run task" it will show you flutter: flutter pub run build_runner build --delete-conflicting-outputs

this way you don't need to memorize and type to terminal source code generation/build commands

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