VSIX Gradle Plugin

The Cascara VSIX Gradle Plugin provides a declarative, imperative-free domain DSL to package Visual Studio Code extensions (.vsix files) without needing custom script copying, regex manifest stamping, or manual Open Packaging Conventions ([Content_Types].xml) overhead.

Features

Declarative DSL

Configure package metadata (publisher, engines, repository, etc.) directly inside Gradle.

In-Memory Manifest Generation

Automatically manages package.json, extension.vsixmanifest, and [Content_Types].xml.

Dynamic Theme Indexing

Scans compiled themes and injects contributions into package.json with correct UI metadata (vs-light / vs-dark).

VS Code Integration

Built-in tasks to install, uninstall, and reinstall the generated VSIX directly into Visual Studio Code.

Example

This example is based on the code in cascara-retro-theme.

Build File

The relevant parts of cascara-retro-theme's build.gradle are:

These lines from the plugins block:

plugins {
    id 'base'
    id 'io.github.qishr.cascara-gradle-plugins.vsix' version '0.1.0'
}

The vsix block:

vsix {
    name        = "cascara-retro-theme"
    displayName = "Cascara Retro Theme"
    description = "Retro theme pack for Visual Studio Code"
    version     = project.version.toString()
    publisher   = "Cascara"
    icon        = "images/icon.png"

    categories "Themes"

    engines = [
        "vscode": "^1.103.0"
    ]

    repository = [
        "type": "git",
        "url" : "git+https://github.com/sandydunlop/cascara-retro-theme.git"
    ]

    readme      = layout.projectDirectory.file("README.md")
    license     = layout.projectDirectory.file("LICENSE")
    changeLog   = layout.projectDirectory.file("CHANGELOG.md")
    imagesDir   = layout.projectDirectory.dir("src/main/resources/vscode/images")

    // Automatically pulls compiled output from cascara-gradle-plugins.ct
    themes.from(layout.buildDirectory.dir("themes/vscode"))
}

Property	Type	Description
`name`	`String`	Technical extension ID in `package.json` / VSIX identity.
`displayName`	`String`	Display name shown in the VS Code Marketplace and Extensions tab.
`description`	`String`	Short summary of the extension.
`version`	`String`	Extension semantic version (e.g., `project.version.toString()`).
`publisher`	`String`	Publisher identifier.
`icon`	`String`	Relative path to extension icon image inside the package.
`categories`	`List<String>`	Marketplace categories (e.g., `categories "Themes"`).
`engines`	`Map<String, String>`	Compatibility engine mapping (e.g., `["vscode": "^1.103.0"]`).
`repository`	`Map<String, String>`	Repository info (`type`, `url`).
`readme`	`RegularFile`	Path to `README.md`.
`license`	`RegularFile`	Path to `LICENSE`.
`changeLog`	`RegularFile`	Path to `CHANGELOG.md`.
`imagesDir`	`Directory`	Source directory for icon and screenshot assets.
`themes`	`ConfigurableFileCollection`	Directories or JSON theme files to include in the package.

Tasks

The plugin registers the following tasks under the vscode task group:

`packageVsix`

Builds the .vsix archive and places it in build/distributions/<name>-<version>.vsix.

./gradlew packageVsix

`installVsix`

Installs the generated .vsix file into the local VS Code installation using code --install-extension <path> --force.

./gradlew installVsix

`uninstallVsix`

Uninstalls the extension from local VS Code using code --uninstall-extension <publisher>.<name>.

./gradlew uninstallVsix

`reinstallVsix`

Performs an uninstallVsix followed by an installVsix operation.

./gradlew reinstallVsix

License

GPL 3