How can I run a VSCode command as a task

Question

VSCode on Github has an issue titled Running commands as tasks #11396. It involves running a VSCode command as an internal task in VSCode.

alexr00 commented on Dec 20, 2018 that:

You can now have commands in tasks.json and points to the following docs:

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/variables-reference#_settings-command-variables-and-input-variables

I've read through these docs and I am still unable to figure out how to do what I want. For starters, I'd like to create a simple task that runs the liveserver extention start code: extention.liveServer.goOnline

Anyone have any thoughts on what to try or where to look?

almaceleste · Accepted Answer · 2020-11-05 22:10:25Z

47

So for instance you could do this:

 { "label": "run copyLinesDown command", // "type": "shell", "command": "${command:editor.action.copyLinesDownAction}", // "command": "${command:extension.gist.open}" // etc // "runOptions": { // "runOn": "folderOpen" // } },

That is a task in tasks.json. When you run that task, the current line in the active editor will be copied down.

So I presume if you used

 "command": "${command:extension.liveServer.goOnline}",

in a task like the above that extension command should be run. (Check the spelling, is it extention or extension?)

See specifically command variables.

And then you can assign a keybinding to that task with (in keybindings.json):

 { "key": "ctrl+h", // binding of your choice "command": "workbench.action.tasks.runTask", "args": "run copyLinesDown command" }

edited Nov 5, 2020 at 22:10

almaceleste

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answered Aug 13, 2019 at 4:05

Mark

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6 Comments

Scott VanKirk Over a year ago

Thanks for that. I kept trying to find a "type" for the command. It never occurred to me to just leave that out. Your example worked perfectly. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to recognize commands from add-ons such as: command:extention.liveServer.goOnline

Mark Over a year ago

Hmm, that is why I tried it with extension.gist.open a command from an installed extension and it worked just fine. It seems to work with/without the shell/process type for me. Did you try both versions with your command? It might need process for example.

Scott VanKirk Over a year ago

Okay, I'm an idiot. I misspelled "extension", thank you Mark :)

PRO Dec 23, 2024 at 6:30

If the command has some output, and you're using that task as a build task, VSCode might try to execute the output. For example, ${command:tinymist.exportCurrentPdf} will be replaced with the exported PDF's path. In this case, you can use "type": "shell" together with "args" to prevent this behavior:

"label": "Tinymist: Export current PDF", "type": "shell", "command": "echo", "args": ["${command:tinymist.exportCurrentPdf}"]

momvart Jul 17 at 17:37

I'm wondering if it's also possible to pass arguments to the command.

Mark Sep 4 at 22:25

No, I think these are the only arguements that the runTask will take: task and type. See github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/155350. It just matches to an existing task where the arguments live.

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