[🚀 Request] Support `--ignore_file` option for using alternative .vscodeignore during test packaging

[andyhsu10]

Describe the request

When running UI tests with:

extest setup-and-run './tests/*.test.js' --uninstall_extension --coverage

extest automatically packages the extension into a .vsix and loads it into the VS Code instance used for testing.

However, the .vsix used for testing needs to include the compiled test files, while the .vsix shipped to end users must exclude them. Currently, extest always uses the root .vscodeignore, so there is no way to provide a different ignore list for testing vs. release.

The @vscode/vsce CLI supports an equivalent --ignoreFile option, allowing a custom ignore file when packaging. It would be extremely helpful if extest setup-and-run supported a similar option. This would let users specify an alternative .vscodeignore only for UI testing, without affecting the release process.

--ignore_file <path>

Usage

extest setup-and-run './tests/*.test.js' \
  --ignore_file .vscodeignore.test \
  --uninstall_extension \
  --coverage

This will:

• extest packages the extension using .vscodeignore.test
• Production .vsix continues to rely on the standard .vscodeignore