How to install vscode extension that is being developped locally from an unpacked directory - visual-studio-code

Question

I am developping a VSCode extension that I want to try it out in the current VSCode instance, not in a new instance.
Is there a way to install the vscode extension that is developping locally from an unpacked directory, not from a .vsix file.
In Atom editor, I can use atom link to do that. Is there something similar in VSCode?

Answer 1

You can install the extension locally with code --install-extension and install a locally packaged extension. I am doing this with esbuild and yarn:
package.json
"scripts": {
"vscode:prepublish": "yarn run build:base --minify",
"build:base": "esbuild ./src/extension.ts --bundle --outfile=out/extension.js --external:vscode --format=cjs --platform=node",
"build": "yarn build:base --sourcemap",
"package": "mkdirp dist && vsce package -o dist/noteberry.vsix --yarn",
"deploy:local": "yarn package && code --install-extension dist/ext.vsix --force"
...
},
mkdirp is an npm module to create folders.
Original Post
One easy solution without packaging as described in https://vscode-docs.readthedocs.io/en/stable/extensions/install-extension/ would be:
VS Code looks for extensions under your extensions folder
.vscode/extensions. Depending on your platform it is located:
Windows %USERPROFILE%\.vscode\extensions
Mac $HOME/.vscode/extensions
Linux $HOME/.vscode/extensions
If you want to load your extension or customization each time VS Code
runs, copy your project to a new folder under .vscode/extensions.
You could write a script to delete / copy over all files.