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Contributing to VS Arduino

Thank you for your interest in improving VS Arduino! This guide covers everything you need to get a development environment running and to submit changes.

Development Setup

Prerequisites

  • Node.js 20 or newer
  • Visual Studio Code ^1.80.0
  • Git

Getting the Code

git clone https://github.com/HiTECH-Corporation/VS-Arduino.git
cd VS-Arduino
npm ci

Building and Running

npm run compile     # Compile the TypeScript extension sources into out/
npm run watch       # Recompile automatically on file changes

To try your changes, open the repository in VS Code and press F5 — an Extension Development Host window launches with the extension loaded.

Project Layout

Path Purpose
src/ Extension host sources (TypeScript)
src/debugger/cortex-debug-core/ Embedded Cortex-Debug engine (ships in the extension)
media/ Prebuilt Webview UI bundles and icons (committed build artifacts)
scripts/ Build and release helper scripts
out/ Compiled extension output (generated, not committed)

Note on the Webview UI: the media/ bundles are committed build artifacts. The original UI design sources are maintained privately, so please do not hand-edit the bundled files in media/ — describe the UI change you need in an issue instead.

Coding Conventions

  • Code and comments are written in English.
  • Prefer self-documenting code — clear names over explanatory comments.
  • Follow the style of the surrounding code (formatting, naming, module structure).
  • Do not introduce new runtime dependencies without discussing them in an issue first.
  • Keep the existing Webview messaging architecture and arduino-cli invocation logic intact unless the change explicitly targets them.

Submitting Changes

  1. Fork the repository and create a branch from main: 
    git checkout -b fix/serial-monitor-timestamps
  2. Make your changes and verify that the extension compiles cleanly: 
    npm run compile
  3. Test your changes in the Extension Development Host (F5).
  4. Commit with a clear, imperative message describing what and why: 
    Fix timestamp drift in Serial Monitor panel view
  5. Push your branch and open a Pull Request against main. Describe the problem, the approach, and any testing performed.

Reporting Issues

Use the issue templates:

  • Bug Report — include your extension version, VS Code version, OS, board, and the relevant Output > VS Arduino log.
  • Feature Request — describe the problem you are trying to solve, not only the proposed solution.

Releases

Releases are tag-driven and fully automated. Maintainers publish by updating the version in package.json and CHANGELOG.md, then pushing a matching v<version> tag — the CI pipeline builds, verifies, and publishes to both the Visual Studio Marketplace and Open VSX.

License

By contributing, you agree that your contributions will be licensed under the MIT License.