vscode-syncing

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vscode-syncing is a VS Code extension for synchronizing your settings, extensions, themes, and code snippets across multiple devices. It is especially useful for remote development scenarios (such as code-server).

✨ Features

• Complete Configuration Sync: Sync the following to local or remote servers:
  • User settings (settings.json)
  • Keybindings (keybindings.json)
  • Code snippets
  • Extensions list with version control
  • Themes and color schemes
• Advanced Extension Management:
  • Dual installation strategy (manual + API fallback)
  • Automatic extension auto-update disabling
  • Smart version comparison and conflict resolution
  • Support for disabled/unavailable extensions (experimental)
• Flexible Export Options:
  • Local file system export
  • GitHub Gist integration
  • GitHub repository integration
• Intelligent Extension Filtering:
  • User-configurable ignore patterns with regex support
  • Automatic current extension exclusion
  • Smart duplicate detection and logging optimization
• Multi-Environment Support:
  • Full support for Remote-SSH development environments
  • Automatic environment detection for different VSCode editions
  • Cross-platform compatibility (Windows, macOS, Linux)

📦 Installation

code --install-extension vscode-syncing

Or search for "vscode-syncing" in the VS Code marketplace.

🚀 Quick Start

1. Configure Export Method: Choose your preferred sync method in settings
2. Set Up Credentials: Configure GitHub token for Gist/Repository sync (if needed)
3. Export Configuration: Use Ctrl+Shift+P → "Export All Configurations"
4. Import on Other Devices: Use Ctrl+Shift+P → "Import All Configurations"

⚙️ Extension Settings

Basic Settings

Setting	Description	Default
vscode-syncing.exportMethod	Export method: local, gist, or repository	local
vscode-syncing.localPath	Local export path	""
vscode-syncing.githubToken	GitHub access token	""
vscode-syncing.gistId	GitHub Gist ID	""
vscode-syncing.repositoryName	GitHub repository name (owner/repo)	""
vscode-syncing.repositoryBranch	GitHub repository branch	main

Advanced Settings

Setting	Description	Default
vscode-syncing.syncDisabledExtensions	Experimental: Sync disabled/unavailable extensions	false
vscode-syncing.ignoredExtensions	Extensions to ignore during sync (supports regex)	[]

Extension Ignore Patterns

The ignoredExtensions setting supports both exact matches and regular expressions:

{
  "vscode-syncing.ignoredExtensions": [
    "ms-vscode.*",           // Ignore all Microsoft extensions
    ".*\\.theme",            // Ignore all theme extensions
    "github.copilot",        // Ignore specific extension
    ".*debug.*",             // Ignore extensions containing "debug"
    "specific-extension-id"  // Exact match
  ]
}

Features:

• 🔍 Regex Support: Use regular expressions for flexible pattern matching
• 🛡️ Auto Protection: Current extension is automatically ignored
• 📝 Flexible Configuration: Mix exact matches and regex patterns
• 🚫 Case Insensitive: All matching is case-insensitive
• ⚠️ Error Tolerant: Invalid regex patterns fall back to exact matching

🔧 Commands

Access these commands via Ctrl+Shift+P (or Cmd+Shift+P on macOS):

Import Commands

• Import All Configurations - Import all settings, extensions, themes, and snippets
• Import Extensions List - Import only extensions
• Import Settings - Import only user settings
• Import Themes - Import only themes and color schemes
• Import Snippets - Import only code snippets

Export Commands

• Export All Configurations - Export all configurations
• Export Extensions List - Export only extensions
• Export Settings - Export only user settings
• Export Themes - Export only themes and color schemes
• Export Snippets - Export only code snippets

Configuration

• Configure Export Options - Set up export method and credentials

🔧 Supported VSCode Editions

This extension automatically detects and supports the following VSCode editions:

• Visual Studio Code (Standard)
• Visual Studio Code Insiders
• Visual Studio Code Exploration
• VSCodium (Open Source)
• VSCodium Insiders
• Code - OSS
• code-server (Remote development)
• Remote-SSH (Remote development via SSH)

Remote-SSH Support

When using Remote-SSH for development, the extension automatically detects the remote environment and uses the correct paths:

• Data Directory: ~/.vscode-server/data
• Extensions Directory: ~/.vscode-server/extensions
• User Settings: ~/.vscode-server/data/User/settings.json

The extension will automatically adapt to the remote server's file system and sync your configurations accordingly.

�️ Advanced Features

Extension Management

Dual Installation Strategy:

1. Primary: Download and install specific extension versions manually
2. Fallback: Use VSCode API to install latest version if manual installation fails

Auto-Update Protection:

• Automatically adds installed extensions to VSCode's auto-update ignore list
• Prevents unwanted version changes after sync
• Maintains version consistency across devices

Smart Conflict Resolution:

• Compares local vs remote extension versions
• Prompts user for version update decisions
• Handles version mismatches intelligently

Experimental Features

Disabled Extensions Sync (syncDisabledExtensions):

• Detects extensions from extensions.json that are not active in VSCode API
• Attempts to install and maintain disabled state
• Useful for complete environment replication

Benefits:

• Complete extension environment sync
• Maintains disabled extension states
• Recovers from extension installation issues

Considerations:

• May increase sync time
• Experimental feature, use with caution
• Best for users who need complete environment consistency

🐞 Known Issues

• Extension state changes (enable/disable) require manual intervention after import
• In code-server environments, you may need to specify the user directory manually
• Experimental disabled extensions sync may have compatibility issues with some extensions

🔍 Troubleshooting

Common Issues

📝 ChangeLog

• Changelog

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📚 References

• VS Code Extension API
• code-server project

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Enjoy using vscode-syncing and keep your dev environment consistent!