Overview

Publishing a VS Code extension to the Marketplace requires the @vscode/vsce package. This post covers the entire workflow: generating an Azure DevOps PAT, creating a Publisher, packaging, and deploying.

graph LR
    A[Develop Extension] --> B[Install vsce]
    B --> C[Generate Azure DevOps PAT]
    C --> D[Create Publisher]
    D --> E[vsce login]
    E --> F{Deploy Method}
    F -->|Direct| G[vsce publish]
    F -->|Package| H["vsce package → .vsix"]

Step 1: Install vsce

vsce is the CLI tool responsible for packaging and publishing VS Code extensions.

npm install -g @vscode/vsce

Three key commands:

• vsce login — authenticate with your publisher account
• vsce publish — publish directly to the Marketplace
• vsce package — bundle as a .vsix static file

Step 2: Generate an Azure DevOps PAT

The VS Code Marketplace authenticates through Azure DevOps.

1. Sign up / log in at Azure DevOps
2. Create a Personal Access Token (PAT)
   • Important: Grant Manage permission for VS Code Marketplace
   • Store the token securely — you cannot retrieve it after creation

Step 3: Create a Publisher and Log In

1. Go to VS Code Marketplace → Publish extensions → Create publisher
2. Set a publisher name and create it
3. Log in via the CLI:

vsce login <publisherName>
# You'll be prompted to enter your PAT

Step 4: Required package.json Fields

{
  "name": "my-extension",
  "displayName": "My Extension",
  "publisher": "my-publisher",
  "version": "0.0.1",
  "engines": {
    "vscode": "^1.84.0"
  }
}

Missing any of these fields will cause the publish step to fail.

Step 5: Deploy

# Publish directly to the Marketplace
vsce publish

# Or package into a .vsix file for manual upload
vsce package

The .vsix file produced by vsce package can be uploaded manually through the Marketplace web UI, or installed locally with code --install-extension my-extension.vsix.

Insights

Azure DevOps and the VS Code Marketplace are separate systems, which makes the initial setup confusing. The key is to follow this exact order: generate a PAT (Azure DevOps) → create a Publisher (Marketplace) → log in (vsce CLI) → deploy. Once this is configured, every subsequent release is a single vsce publish command. You can also integrate this into a CI/CD pipeline to trigger automatic deployments on tag pushes.