Introduction

vsceasy is a CLI that scaffolds and grows VS Code extensions. It is codegen, not a runtime you ship — your extension has no dependency on vsceasy at run time. The CLI writes plain TypeScript + React into your project; you own and edit it.

How to say it

vsceasy is a blend of VSC (VS Code) and easy.

• English: “vee-see-easy”
• Español: “visici”

That’s the whole pitch in the name: VS Code, made easy.

What you get

• File-based routing. One file per panel, command, menu, tree view, subpanel, or status bar item. A gen step scans the convention directories and writes src/extension/_registry.ts plus package.json#contributes.
• Typed RPC. A single interface in src/shared/api.ts types both the extension handlers and the webview client. Call api.method(...) — no manual message plumbing.
• React webviews. Panels and subpanels render React, themed with VS Code CSS variables. Optional UI templates (form, list, dashboard) start you from a working screen.
• A mini-ORM. db init + model add give you typed entities with a filesystem-backed store. crud add scaffolds a full list + form UI over a model.
• Editor-surface primitives. Completions, ghost text, hovers, typing guards (intercept keystrokes, paste and deletions), decorations, and terminals — the same one-file-per-feature convention. See Editor surface.
• A built-in LLM client. Ollama or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint over fetch, with streaming, JSON mode, model auto-resolution and settings-driven configuration. No SDK dependency. See The LLM client.
• Operational helpers. Jobs (interval / daily / event / file watch), runtime helpers (secrets, config, state, notifications, cache, colorize), a test harness, and publish tooling.

When to use it

Reach for vsceasy when you’re building a webview-heavy extension and want to skip the boilerplate: panel registration, the RPC bridge, the build pipeline, and the contributes bookkeeping. You stay in plain VS Code APIs everywhere it matters — vsceasy just removes the repetitive wiring.

It isn’t only for webviews. create --type language scaffolds a full language extension (grammar, snippets, file icon, scoped colors) with no React at all, and --type empty gives you a bare extension with the same file-based routing. See the showcase for one of each.

How it fits together

flowchart LR
  CLI["vsceasy CLI"] -->|scaffolds| PROJ["your extension"]
  PROJ --> GEN["bun run gen"]
  GEN --> REG["_registry.ts"]
  GEN --> CONTRIB["package.json#contributes"]
  REG --> BOOT["bootstrap(registry)"]
  BOOT --> VSCODE["VS Code on activate"]

Next: Quick start to scaffold a project, or Concepts for the mental model.