base on A CLI/TUI that simplifies launching VSCode projects, with a focus on dev containers # vscli [](https://choosealicense.com/licenses/mit/) [](https://github.com/michidk/vscli/actions/workflows/ci.yml) A CLI/TUI which makes it easy to launch [Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/) (vscode) [dev containers](https://containers.dev/). Also supports other editors like [Cursor](https://www.cursor.com/).  Read [here](https://blog.lohr.dev/launching-dev-containers) about the journey of reverse engineering Microsoft's dev container CLI in order to make this. ## Features - A shorthand for launching vscode projects (to be used like the `code` command but with dev container support) - Supports different editors like `vscode`, `vscode-insiders`, `cursor` and other vscode forks - Detects whether a project is a [dev container](https://containers.dev/) project, and launches the dev container instead - Supports [multiple dev containers](https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-docs/blob/main/remote-release-notes/v1_75.md#folders-with-multiple-devcontainerjson-files) in the same project - Tracks your projects and allows you to open them using a CLI-based UI ## Installation [](https://repology.org/project/vscli/versions) [](https://github.com/michidk/homebrew-tools/blob/main/Formula/vscli.rb) ### [Cargo](https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/) Install [vscli using cargo](https://crates.io/crates/vscli) on Windows or Linux: ```sh cargo install vscli ``` ### [Homebrew](https://brew.sh/) Install [vscli using homebrew](https://github.com/michidk/homebrew-tools/blob/main/Formula/vscli.rb) on Linux or Mac: ```sh brew install michidk/tools/vscli ``` ### [Chocolatey](https://chocolatey.org/) Install [vscli using Chocolatey](https://community.chocolatey.org/packages/vscli) on Windows: ```sh choco install vscli ``` ### [Winget](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/package-manager/winget/) Install [vscli using winget](https://github.com/microsoft/winget-pkgs/tree/master/manifests/m/michidk/vscli) on Windows: ```sh winget install vscli ``` ### Additional steps You can set a shorthand alias for `vscli` in your shell's configuration file: ```sh alias vs="vscli open" alias vsr="vscli recent" ``` ## Usage ### Commands After installation, the `vscli` command will be available: ``` Usage: vscli [OPTIONS] <COMMAND> Commands: open Opens a dev container recent Opens an interactive list of recently used workspaces help Print this message or the help of the given subcommand(s) Options: -s, --history-path <HISTORY_PATH> Overwrite the default path to the history file [env: HISTORY_PATH=] -d, --dry-run Whether to launch in dry-run mode (not actually open vscode) [env: DRY_RUN=] -v, --verbose... Increase logging verbosity -q, --quiet... Decrease logging verbosity -h, --help Print help -V, --version Print version ``` #### Open Dev Containers Opens a dev container. ``` Usage: vscli open [OPTIONS] [PATH] [ARGS]... Arguments: [PATH] The path of the vscode project to open [default: .] [ARGS]... Additional arguments to pass to the editor [env: ARGS=] Options: -c, --command <COMMAND> The editor command to use (e.g. "code", "code-insiders", "cursor") [env: COMMAND=] -s, --history-path <HISTORY_PATH> Overwrite the default path to the history file [env: HISTORY_PATH=] -b, --behavior <BEHAVIOR> Launch behavior [possible values: detect, force-container, force-classic] -d, --dry-run Whether to launch in dry-run mode (not actually open vscode) [env: DRY_RUN=] --config <CONFIG> Overwrites the path to the dev container config file [env: CONFIG=] -v, --verbose... Increase logging verbosity -q, --quiet... Decrease logging verbosity -h, --help Print help (see more with '--help') ``` #### Recent UI Opens an interactive list of recently used workspaces. ``` Usage: vscli recent [OPTIONS] [ARGS]... Arguments: [ARGS]... Additional arguments to pass to the editor [env: ARGS=] Options: --hide-instructions Hide the instruction message in the UI -s, --history-path <HISTORY_PATH> Overwrite the default path to the history file [env: HISTORY_PATH=] -d, --dry-run Whether to launch in dry-run mode (not actually open vscode) [env: DRY_RUN=] --hide-info Hide additional information like strategy, command, args and dev container path in the UI -c, --command <COMMAND> The editor command to use (e.g. "code", "code-insiders", "cursor") [env: COMMAND=] -v, --verbose... Increase logging verbosity -b, --behavior <BEHAVIOR> Launch behavior [possible values: detect, force-container, force-classic] -q, --quiet... Decrease logging verbosity --config <CONFIG> Overwrites the path to the dev container config file [env: CONFIG=] -h, --help Print help (see more with '--help') ``` Both the `open` and `recent` commands share the same set of launch arguments: - `--command`: Specify which editor command to use (e.g., "code", "code-insiders", "cursor") - `--behavior`: Set the launch behavior ("detect", "force-container", "force-classic") - `--config`: Override the path to the dev container config file - Additional arguments can be passed to the editor executable by specifying them after `--` The `recent` command additionally supports: - `--hide-instructions`: Hide the keybinding instructions from the UI - `--hide-info`: Hide additional information like strategy, command, args and dev container path ##### Keybindings | Key/Key Combination | Action | Description | | ------------------------------- | --------------------- | -------------------------------------- | | `Esc`, `Ctrl+Q` or `Ctrl+C` | Quit | Exits the application. | | `Down` or `Ctrl+J` | Select Next | Moves to the next selectable item. | | `Up` or `Ctrl+K` | Select Previous | Moves to the previous selectable item. | | `KeypadBegin` or `Ctrl+1` | Select First | Selects the first item. | | `End` or `Ctrl+0` | Select Last | Selects the last item. | | `Enter` or `Ctrl+O` | Open Selected | Opens the currently selected item. | | `Delete`, `Ctrl+R`, or `Ctrl+X` | Delete Selected Entry | Deletes the currently selected item. | Note: If an input does not match any of the defined keybindings, it is treated as part of a search input. ##### Mouse Interactions | Mouse Action | Description | | ------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------ | | Left Click | Selects an item. Clicking the same item again opens it. | | Mouse Wheel | Scrolls through the list, moving selection up/down. | ##### Launch Behavior There are three launch behaviors: - `force-classic`: Launch vscode without a dev container - `force-container`: Launch vscode with a dev container, error if no dev container is found - `detect`: Detect whether the project is a dev container project, and launch the dev container if it is ##### Detection Algorithm The detection algorithm determines which dev container config to launch. - First, check whether a dev container config was specified via the `--config` flag -> launch it - Then loads the first dev container it finds - If more than one exists -> show a interactive list of dev containers and let the user select one - If one exists -> launch it - If none exists -> launch vscode normally without a dev container ### Examples #### Launching a project You can launch a project using the default behavior: ```sh vscli open # open vscode in the current directory vscli open . # open vscode in the current directory vscli open /path/to/project # open vscode in the specified directory ``` The default behavior tries to detect whether the project is a [dev container](https://containers.dev/) project. If it is, it will launch the dev container instead - if not it will launch vscode normally. You can change the launch behavior using the `--behavior` flag: ```sh vscli open --behavior force-container . # force open vscode dev container (even if vscli did not detect a dev container) vscli open --behavior force-classic . # force open vscode without a dev container (even if vscli did detect a dev container) ``` When you open a project containing more than one dev container config, you will be prompted to select one:  You can specify which editor command to use with the `--command` flag: ```sh vscli open --command cursor . # open using cursor editor vscli open --command code . # open using vscode (default) vscli open --command code-insiders . # open using vscode insiders ``` Additional arguments can be passed to the editor executable, by specifying them after `--`: ```sh vscli open . -- --disable-gpu # open the current directory without GPU hardware acceleration ``` Read more about the editor flags by executing `code --help` (or `cursor --help`, etc). #### CLI UI You can open a CLI-based user interface to display a list of recently opened projects using the `recent` command: ```sh vscli recent # open the CLI-based UI to select a recently opened project to open vscli recent --command cursor # open the selected project with cursor, ignoring the editor stored in history vscli recent --behavior force-container # force open the selected project in a dev container vscli recent --command cursor --behavior detect # open with cursor and detect if dev container should be used vscli recent --config .devcontainer/custom.json # open with a specific dev container config vscli recent -- --disable-gpu # pass additional arguments to the editor vscli recent --hide-instructions # hide the keybinding instructions from the UI vscli recent --hide-info # hide additional information like strategy, command, args and dev container path ``` The UI mode provides a convenient way to browse and manage your recent workspaces, with customizable display options and full support for all launch configurations. 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