Your friends are comfortable in the Arduino IDE, but you using vscode and PlatformIO because it is easier (libraries, config and shortcuts). So you need to give them an ino file and the correct versions of the libraries. And you want to eliminate them from running an incorrect version the project.
Only tested on a Mac using zsh.
- Paste the make-arduino.sh into the root of your PlatformIO project. Give it execute permissions if needed chmod
u+x make-arduino.sh. - Then adjust the script with the project name and any string replacements you need.