“Open in Visual Studio Code” in macOS context-menu

vscode-macos-context-menu.md

Open in Visual Studio Code

• Open Automator

• Create a new document

• Select Quick Action

• Set “Service receives selected” to files or folders in any application

• Add a Run Shell Script action

  • your default shell should already be selected, otherwise use /bin/zsh for macOS 10.15 (”Catalina”) or later
  • older versions of macOS use /bin/bash
  • if you're using something else, you probably know what to do 😉

• Set the script action to the following

  for f in "$@"; do
    open -a 'Visual Studio Code' "$@"
  done
  

• Set “Pass input” to as arguments

• Save as Open in Visual Studio Code

Keyboard Shortcuts

You can assign a global shortcut to run the services we just created

• Open “System Preferences”
• Select “Keyboard” then the “Shortcuts” tab
• In the left pane, click on “Services”
• In the right pane, scroll to “Files and Folders”
• Select “Open in Visual Studio Code” click “add shortcut”
• Select a shortcut

Edit Context Menu items

You might want to rename or edit the items we just created

• Activate Finder
• Click on “Finder” in the Apple menu, select “Services” then “Services Preferences”
• In the right pane, scroll to “Files and Folders” and scroll to the item you want to edit
• Right click the item and select “Open in Visual Studio Code”
• Edit and save

Alternatively, you can edit the workflow (e.g. ~/Library/Services/Open in Visual Studio Code.workflow) in your preferred text editor

although there is probably very little practical impact, it would be better to replace, IMHO:

for f in "$@"; do
  open -a 'Visual Studio Code' "$@"
done

with

for f in "$@"; do
  open -a 'Visual Studio Code' "$f"
done

For step 4, I think it's "Workflow receives current" now.

Thanks for sharing!

Fantastic! Thanks

Thank you it literally helped. I spent hours with ChatGPT to make the Quick action, but it doesn't help after hours of changes here and there, VSCode, Terminal, I tried everything yesterday.

But your Simple Steps really helped.

Thank you once again <3

Thanks! This worked to create a context menu item, but I can't seem to get a keyboard shortcut working for it. I've tried a bunch of different shortcuts making sure they weren't already in use and restarting after setting the shortcut. Any other suggestions?

This would be easier and worked for me:

Open Automator

Create a new document

Select Quick Action

Is there any way we can make it a shortcut and use it from the touchbar ??

Thank you it even works on new version.

@DaiZack solution worked for me

This would be easier and worked for me:

Open Automator

Create a new document

Select Quick Action

good and simple solution. worked for me too. thanks @DaiZack

thanks for easy tutorial 👍🏻

This would be easier and worked for me:

Open Automator

Create a new document

Select Quick Action

this works best, IMHO

This would be easier and worked for me:

Open Automator

Create a new document

Select Quick Action

this is way easier method, Thanks 😄

If you've code installed in your path, the script could be as simple as

code "$@"

This also prevents the problem of vs code opening multiple windows when multiple folders are selected.

@anandbibek Did you update to Sonoma already? I cannot find the "Receive Files and 2 more inputs from Quick Actions" even the icon is not available, and I would love to find out if it's an update problem or if I did something wrong?

@lony No. I'm still on Ventura.

This would be easier and worked for me:

Open Automator

Create a new document

Select Quick Action

Best solution! Thanks a million!

I got help from a coworker and solved it. You have to select the quick action field.

This would be easier and worked for me:

Open Automator

Create a new document

Select Quick Action

It worked, thank you!

although there is probably very little practical impact, it would be better to replace, IMHO:

for f in "$@"; do
  open -a 'Visual Studio Code' "$@"
done

with

for f in "$@"; do
  open -a 'Visual Studio Code' "$f"
done

personally prefer $f without quotes, to open each folder as a seperate vscode window (rather than group them together as a workspace).

Those who prefer this way may try it out 😉

This would be easier and worked for me:

Open Automator

Create a new document

Select Quick Action

thanks it worked 👍

Lovely, thank you! <3

感谢您！！！
thx a lot！！！
@DaiZack

Is there any way we can make it a shortcut and use it from the touchbar ??

you can customize the touch bar to include a quick action button
once you tap it, the Open in Visual Studio Code option should be there.

DaiZack's solution seems easy and works well. Just to sing to the choir.