lit-and-vscode-extensions

Original：🇺🇸 English

Translated

Learn how to build a VSCode extension using a Lit web component, covering setup, template creation, component implementation, and extension activation.

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Sourcerodydavis/skills

Added on2026-02-08

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Lit and VSCode Extensions

In this article I will go over how to set up a Lit web component and use it to create a VSCode extension.

TLDR You can find the final source here.

Prerequisites

Vscode
Node >= 16
Typescript

Getting Started

We can start off by navigating in terminal to the location of the project and run the following:

npm init @vitejs/app --template lit-ts

Then enter a project name

lit-vscode-extension

and now open the project in vscode and install the dependencies:

cd lit-vscode-extension
npm i -D @types/node
code .

Update the

vite.config.ts

with the following:

import { defineConfig } from "vite";
import { resolve } from "path";

export default defineConfig({
  base: "/lit-vscode-extension/",
  build: {
    outDir: "build",
    rollupOptions: {
      external: /^vscode/,
      input: {
        main: resolve(__dirname, "index.html"),
      },
      output: {
        entryFileNames: "[name].js",
      },
    },
  },
});

Open

package.json

and update it with the following:

{
  "name": "lit-vscode-extension",
  "description": "Lit VSCode Extension Example",
  "version": "0.0.1",
  "publisher": "rodydavis",
  "private": true,
  "license": "MIT",
  "repository": {
    "type": "git",
    "url": "https://github.com/rodydavis/lit-vscode-extension"
  },
  "engines": {
    "vscode": "^1.47.0"
  },
  "categories": [
    "Other"
  ],
  "activationEvents": [
    "onCommand:lit.start",
    "onCommand:lit.reset",
    "onWebviewPanel:lit"
  ],
  "main": "./build/extension.js",
  "contributes": {
    "commands": [
      {
        "command": "lit.start",
        "title": "Open Plugin",
        "category": "lit"
      },
      {
        "command": "lit.reset",
        "title": "Reset",
        "category": "lit"
      }
    ]
  },
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "vite",
    "build": "tsc && vite build",
    "ext": "tsc src/extension.ts --outdir build --skipLibCheck --module commonjs",
    "compile": "npm run build && npm run ext",
    "serve": "vite preview"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "lit": "^2.0.0-rc.2"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@types/node": "^15.12.4",
    "@types/vscode": "^1.57.0",
    "typescript": "^4.2.3",
    "vite": "^2.3.5"
  }
}

After the

package.json

is updated run

npm i

Template

Open up the

index.html

and update it with the following:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
    <link rel="icon" type="image/svg+xml" href="/src/favicon.svg" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
    <title>Lit Example</title>
    <script type="module" src="/src/my-element.ts"></script>
  </head>
  <body>
    <my-element>
      <p>This is child content</p>
    </my-element>
  </body>
</html>

Web Component

Open up

src/my-element.ts

and update it with the following:

import { html, css, LitElement } from "lit";
import { customElement, property, state } from "lit/decorators.js";

@customElement("my-element")
export class MyElement extends LitElement {
  static styles = css`
    :host {
      display: block;
      border: solid 1px gray;
      padding: 16px;
      max-width: 800px;
    }
  `;

  @property() name = "World";
  @state() count = 0;

  render() {
    return html`
      <h1>Hello, ${this.name}!</h1>
      <button @click=${() => this.modify(1)} part="button">
        Click Count: ${this.count}
      </button>
      <slot></slot>
    `;
  }

  modify(val: number) {
    this.count += val;
  }

  reset() {
    this.count = 0;
  }

  async firstUpdated() {
    window.addEventListener(
      "message",
      (e: any) => {
        const message = e.data;
        const { command } = message;
        if (command === "reset") {
          this.reset();
        }
      },
      false
    );
  }
}

Here we are just modifying the example to include a message listener for communicating with the vscode extension, methods for updating the count, and updating the render method.

VSCode communicates with the plugin via post messages because the UI will be loaded in an

iframe

Now let's write the extension code in

src/extension.ts

. First start by adding top level declarations that will be referenced multiple times.

import * as vscode from "vscode";

const WEB_DIR: string = "build";
const WEB_SCRIPT: string = "main.js";
const TITLE: string = "Lit Example";
const TAG: string = "my-element";


const possible = [
  "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ",
  "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz",
  "0123456789",
].join("");

function getNonce() {
  let text = "";
  for (let i = 0; i < 32; i++) {
    const char = possible.charAt(Math.floor(Math.random() * possible.length));
    text += char;
  }
  return text;
}

We also are creating a

getNonce

method that will be used for making sure the scripts we load are the ones we passed in.

Now create a

Panel

that will contain the ui for our plugin:

class Panel {
  public static currentPanel: Panel | undefined;
  public static readonly viewType = "litExample";
  private _disposables: vscode.Disposable[] = [];

  public static createOrShow(extensionUri: vscode.Uri) {
    const column = vscode.window.activeTextEditor
      ? vscode.window.activeTextEditor.viewColumn
      : undefined;
    if (Panel.currentPanel) {
      Panel.currentPanel.panel.reveal(column);
      return;
    }
    const panel = vscode.window.createWebviewPanel(
      Panel.viewType,
      TITLE,
      column || vscode.ViewColumn.One,
      getWebviewOptions(extensionUri)
    );
    Panel.currentPanel = new Panel(panel, extensionUri);
  }

  public static revive(panel: vscode.WebviewPanel, extensionUri: vscode.Uri) {
    Panel.currentPanel = new Panel(panel, extensionUri);
  }

  private constructor(
    public readonly panel: vscode.WebviewPanel,
    public readonly extensionUri: vscode.Uri
  ) {
    this._update();
    this.panel.onDidDispose(() => this.dispose(), null, this._disposables);
    this.panel.onDidChangeViewState(
      (_) => {
        if (this.panel.visible) {
          this._update();
        }
      },
      null,
      this._disposables
    );
    this.panel.webview.onDidReceiveMessage(
      (message) => {
        switch (message.command) {
          case "alert":
            vscode.window.showErrorMessage(message.text);
            return;
        }
      },
      null,
      this._disposables
    );
  }

  public sendMessage(command: string) {
    this.panel.webview.postMessage({ command: command });
  }

  public dispose() {
    Panel.currentPanel = undefined;
    this.panel.dispose();
    while (this._disposables.length) {
      const x = this._disposables.pop();
      if (x) {
        x.dispose();
      }
    }
  }

  private _update() {
    const webview = this.panel.webview;
    webview.html = this._getHtmlForWebview(webview);
  }

  private _getHtmlForWebview(webview: vscode.Webview) {
    const scriptPathOnDisk = vscode.Uri.joinPath(
      this.extensionUri,
      WEB_DIR,
      WEB_SCRIPT
    );
    const scriptUri = webview.asWebviewUri(scriptPathOnDisk);
    const nonce = getNonce();

    const slot = "<p>This is child content</p>";

    return `<!DOCTYPE html>
			<html lang="en">
        <head>
          <meta charset="UTF-8">
          <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
          <title>${TITLE}</title>
        </head>
        <body class="vscode-light">
          <${TAG} nonce="${nonce}" >
            ${slot}
          </${TAG}>
          <script nonce="${nonce}" type="module" src="${scriptUri}"></script>
        </body>
			</html>`;
  }
}

Notice how we are recreating the html and not using the
index.html
. This allows us to use the component for a deployed website but also the extension with separate app logic code.

Everything else is just boilerplate for managing the panel state and disposing when it is finished.

Now we can add the methods for loading our plugin and listening for the commands:

export function activate(context: vscode.ExtensionContext) {
  context.subscriptions.push(
    vscode.commands.registerCommand("lit.start", () => {
      Panel.createOrShow(context.extensionUri);
    })
  );

  context.subscriptions.push(
    vscode.commands.registerCommand("lit.reset", () => {
      if (Panel.currentPanel) {
        Panel.currentPanel.sendMessage("reset");
      }
    })
  );

  if (vscode.window.registerWebviewPanelSerializer) {
    vscode.window.registerWebviewPanelSerializer(Panel.viewType, {
      async deserializeWebviewPanel(
        webviewPanel: vscode.WebviewPanel,
        state: any
      ) {
        console.log(`Received state: ${state}`);
        webviewPanel.webview.options = getWebviewOptions(context.extensionUri);
        Panel.revive(webviewPanel, context.extensionUri);
      },
    });
  }
}

function getWebviewOptions(extensionUri: vscode.Uri): vscode.WebviewOptions {
  return {
    enableScripts: true,
    localResourceRoots: [vscode.Uri.joinPath(extensionUri, WEB_DIR)],
  };
}

Here we are loading the extension and passing messages when the

lit.reset

command. We are also returning the

getWebviewOptions

options which

enableScripts

is set to

true

so we can run the injected js.

The final code should look like the follow:

import * as vscode from "vscode";

const WEB_DIR: string = "build";
const WEB_SCRIPT: string = "main.js";
const TITLE: string = "Lit Example";
const TAG: string = "my-element";

export function activate(context: vscode.ExtensionContext) {
  context.subscriptions.push(
    vscode.commands.registerCommand("lit.start", () => {
      Panel.createOrShow(context.extensionUri);
    })
  );

  context.subscriptions.push(
    vscode.commands.registerCommand("lit.reset", () => {
      if (Panel.currentPanel) {
        Panel.currentPanel.sendMessage("reset");
      }
    })
  );

  if (vscode.window.registerWebviewPanelSerializer) {
    vscode.window.registerWebviewPanelSerializer(Panel.viewType, {
      async deserializeWebviewPanel(
        webviewPanel: vscode.WebviewPanel,
        state: any
      ) {
        console.log(`Received state: ${state}`);
        webviewPanel.webview.options = getWebviewOptions(context.extensionUri);
        Panel.revive(webviewPanel, context.extensionUri);
      },
    });
  }
}

function getWebviewOptions(extensionUri: vscode.Uri): vscode.WebviewOptions {
  return {
    enableScripts: true,
    localResourceRoots: [vscode.Uri.joinPath(extensionUri, WEB_DIR)],
  };
}

class Panel {
  public static currentPanel: Panel | undefined;
  public static readonly viewType = "litExample";
  private _disposables: vscode.Disposable[] = [];

  public static createOrShow(extensionUri: vscode.Uri) {
    const column = vscode.window.activeTextEditor
      ? vscode.window.activeTextEditor.viewColumn
      : undefined;
    if (Panel.currentPanel) {
      Panel.currentPanel.panel.reveal(column);
      return;
    }
    const panel = vscode.window.createWebviewPanel(
      Panel.viewType,
      TITLE,
      column || vscode.ViewColumn.One,
      getWebviewOptions(extensionUri)
    );
    Panel.currentPanel = new Panel(panel, extensionUri);
  }

  public static revive(panel: vscode.WebviewPanel, extensionUri: vscode.Uri) {
    Panel.currentPanel = new Panel(panel, extensionUri);
  }

  private constructor(
    public readonly panel: vscode.WebviewPanel,
    public readonly extensionUri: vscode.Uri
  ) {
    this._update();
    this.panel.onDidDispose(() => this.dispose(), null, this._disposables);
    this.panel.onDidChangeViewState(
      (_) => {
        if (this.panel.visible) {
          this._update();
        }
      },
      null,
      this._disposables
    );
    this.panel.webview.onDidReceiveMessage(
      (message) => {
        switch (message.command) {
          case "alert":
            vscode.window.showErrorMessage(message.text);
            return;
        }
      },
      null,
      this._disposables
    );
  }

  public sendMessage(command: string) {
    this.panel.webview.postMessage({ command: command });
  }

  public dispose() {
    Panel.currentPanel = undefined;
    this.panel.dispose();
    while (this._disposables.length) {
      const x = this._disposables.pop();
      if (x) {
        x.dispose();
      }
    }
  }

  private _update() {
    const webview = this.panel.webview;
    webview.html = this._getHtmlForWebview(webview);
  }

  private _getHtmlForWebview(webview: vscode.Webview) {
    const scriptPathOnDisk = vscode.Uri.joinPath(
      this.extensionUri,
      WEB_DIR,
      WEB_SCRIPT
    );
    const scriptUri = webview.asWebviewUri(scriptPathOnDisk);
    const nonce = getNonce();

    const slot = "<p>This is child content</p>";

    const htmlSource = `
    <!DOCTYPE html>
    <html lang="en">
      <head>
        <meta charset="UTF-8">
        <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
        <title>${TITLE}</title>
      </head>
      <body class="vscode-light">
        <${TAG} nonce="${nonce}" >
          ${slot}
        </${TAG}>
        <script nonce="${nonce}" type="module" src="${scriptUri}"></script>
      </body>
    </html>`;

    return htmlSource;
  }
}

const possible = [
  "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ",
  "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz",
  "0123456789",
].join("");

function getNonce() {
  let text = "";
  for (let i = 0; i < 32; i++) {
    const char = possible.charAt(Math.floor(Math.random() * possible.length));
    text += char;
  }
  return text;
}

Running

Make sure to install the dependencies by running

npm i

To build the extension run

npm run compile

To open the extension and debug hit

F5

To run the commands to open the extension run

lit: open plugin

lit: reset

To debug the extension when it is open run

Developer: Open Webview Developer Tools

from the command pallet.

Conclusion

If you want to learn more about building a vscode extension you can read more here and for Lit you can read the docs here.

lit-and-vscode-extensions

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Lit and VSCode Extensions

Prerequisites

Getting Started

Template

Web Component

Running

Conclusion