CodeBridge lets you use VS Code extensions in IntelliJ-based IDEs. You browse and install them from Open VSX on a VS Code Extensions page in Settings, next to the IDE's own Plugins page and laid out the same way. A .vsix file works too. Your project's .vscode folder works too: launch.json entries become run configurations, tasks.json tasks can run before them, and extensions use the settings in settings.json, as they do in VS Code.

Extensions run unmodified, because CodeBridge runs them in the real VS Code extension host, which comes with the plugin. You don't need VS Code or Node.js installed. What extensions provide shows up as ordinary IntelliJ features: errors in the editor, completion, intentions, actions like Go to Declaration, Find Usages, Rename and Reformat Code, the debugger and more.

Note

CodeBridge is in active development. Many extensions work well, but some of what VS Code offers extensions is not available, so installing an extension does not mean all of its features will work. See Status for the details.

Features

• Extensions: search Open VSX, see an extension's details, and install, update, turn off or uninstall extensions on a VS Code Extensions page in Settings, laid out like the Plugins page. You can also install a .vsix file.
• Editing: errors and warnings, semantic colouring, syntax highlighting, hover docs, completion, inline completions as ghost text, signature help, inlay hints, code lenses, folding, Extend Selection and document links.
• Navigation: Go to Declaration, Find Usages, usage highlighting, Go to Class/Symbol, the Structure view and breadcrumbs.
• Refactoring: Rename, the extension's quick fixes and refactorings as intentions, and Reformat Code with the extension's formatter.
• Debugging: debug with an extension's debugger in IntelliJ's debugger, using the entries in your launch.json.
• Workspace: your launch.json, tasks.json and settings.json, including multi-root .code-workspace files. When an extension changes a setting, it is saved to settings.json.
• Extension UI: extension views as tool windows, webviews, status bar items, notifications, quick picks, progress, terminals and test runners.
• Notebooks: .ipynb files, and other notebook types extensions contribute, open as their cells; run them with a kernel an extension provides, and see text, errors and images below each cell. Rich outputs drawn by renderers (HTML, widgets, interactive plots) are not supported.

Source control, comments, custom editors and extensions' chat and AI features are not supported. The full breakdown is in Status.

CodeBridge also works with remote development (split mode): the UI stays on your machine and extensions run where the project lives. Installing extensions, settings and the core editor features have been tested this way; some longer workflows haven't been checked end to end.

CodeBridge runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. Windows on ARM is not supported.

Design philosophy

CodeBridge doesn't rebuild VS Code inside IntelliJ. An extension should feel as if it had been written for IntelliJ.

• IntelliJ features, not VS Code panels. Quick fixes are intentions, extension views are tool windows and tests run in IntelliJ's test runner, with the IDE's own icons, theme and shortcuts.
• Generic, not tailored. Nothing is special-cased for one extension; what works for one works for any extension that uses the same API.
• Your .vscode folder stays as it is. It isn't converted, so you and teammates on VS Code share the same configuration.

Installing

CodeBridge has no release yet, so you build it yourself. It is two plugins: CodeBridge Runtime, which runs extensions, and CodeBridge, which adds the marketplace and your .vscode folder. With JDK 25 or later, run ./gradlew :runtime:buildPluginVariants buildPlugin (.\gradlew.bat in PowerShell) from the repository root. Install the runtime's ZIP for your OS and architecture from src/runtime/build/distributions/, then CodeBridge's from build/distributions/, with Settings → Plugins → ⚙ → Install Plugin from Disk…. The runtime's plain buildPlugin ZIP carries no extension host, so it can't run extensions. Architecture and development has the details.

Using it

• Find and install extensions in Settings → VS Code Extensions. Search Open VSX, open an extension to see its details and click Install, or Update when a newer version is out. Your installed extensions are listed on the same page, where you can turn them off (everywhere or just in this project) or uninstall them.
• Install a .vsix file with Install Extension from Disk… in the gear menu on the same page.
• Language support turns on when you open a file an enabled extension handles.
• Debugging: every entry in your launch.json appears in the run widget, in a launch.json folder; pick one and click Run or Debug.
• Extension logs appear in the CodeBridge Output tool window.

Documentation

• Status: what works today, feature by feature.
• Workspace configurations: how launch.json, tasks.json and settings.json are used.

Development

• Architecture and development: modules, design decisions and building the plugin from source.
• Runtime and LSP: how the pieces talk, and troubleshooting.
• Core workbench services: implemented APIs, persistence and remaining limits.
• Workbench coverage: which VS Code services are answered and which are not.
• Platform limitations: what the IntelliJ platform can't show.
• Extension-host protocol: how CodeBridge talks to the extension host.
• Tests and fixtures: running tests and recorded results.

Contributing

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome; see CONTRIBUTING.md. Report security issues privately as described in SECURITY.md.

License

CodeBridge is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. It includes third-party code and icons under their own licences, listed in NOTICE.md.

CodeBridge is an independent project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft or JetBrains. Visual Studio Code and VS Code are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation; IntelliJ is a trademark of JetBrains s.r.o.