Tutorial: Build a Todo extension

This tutorial builds a working Todo list VS Code extension from nothing — a database, a typed model, a full CRUD UI, and a background reminder — using only vsceasy commands. After each command you’ll see exactly what it generated and why.

It mirrors the shape of Angular’s Tour of Heroes: small steps, each one runnable, each one explained.

What you’ll build

A VS Code extension that:

• Stores todos in the built-in mini-ORM.
• Shows a list panel (table with Refresh / New / Edit / Delete).
• Shows a form panel with the right input per field — text, checkbox for the boolean, a dropdown for the priority union, a date picker for the due date.
• Fires a daily reminder notification for overdue todos.

What you’ll learn

• How create scaffolds a project, and what each generated file is for.
• How db init + model add define typed, persisted data.
• How crud add turns a model into a full list + form UI with typed RPC.
• How job add registers background work.
• How bun run gen wires everything into package.json and the registry.

Prerequisites

• Bun installed (bun --version).
• VS Code with the code CLI on your PATH (Command Palette → Shell Command: Install ‘code’ command in PATH).

The steps

1. Scaffold the project — vsceasy create.
2. Add the database and the Todo model — db init + model add.
3. Generate the CRUD UI — crud add.
4. Add a reminder job and run it — job add, then launch.

Flags vs. prompts

Every command below is shown in its non-interactive flag form so you can copy it verbatim. Run any command with no flags to get the interactive prompts instead. Note that create requires --name — it has no positional argument.