How can I install Visual Studio Code extensions offline?

Question

I have installed Visual Studio Code on a machine that is not, and cannot be, connected to the Internet. According to the documentation, I can install an extension from the c

Answer 1

All these suggestions are great, but kind of painful to follow because executing the code to construct the URL or constructing that crazy URL by hand is kind of annoying...

So, I threw together a quick web app to make things easier. Just paste the URL of the extension you want and out comes out the download of your extension already properly named: publisher-extension-version.vsix.

Hope someone finds it helpful: http://vscode-offline.herokuapp.com/

Answer 2

UPDATE 2017-12-13

You can now download the extension directly from the marketplace.

As of Visual Studio Code 1.7.1 dragging or opening the extension does not work any more. In order to install it manually you need to:

• open the extensions sidebar
• click on the ellipsis in the right upper corner
• choose Install from VSIX

---

Old Method

According to the documentation it is possible to download an extension directly:

An extension's direct download URL is in the form:

https://${publisher}.gallery.vsassets.io/_apis/public/gallery/publisher/${publisher}/extension/${extension name}/${version}/assetbyname/Microsoft.VisualStudio.Services.VSIXPackage

This means that in order to download the extension you need to know

• the publisher name
• the version
• the extension name

You can find all this information in the URL.

Example

Here's an example for downloading an installing the C# v1.3.0 extension:

Publisher, Extension and Version

You can find the publisher and the extension names on the extension's homepage inside its URL:

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-vscode.csharp

Here the publisher is ms-vscode and the extension name is csharp.

The version can be found on the right side in the More Info area.

To download it you need to create a link from the template above:

https://ms-vscode.gallery.vsassets.io/_apis/public/gallery/publisher/ms-vscode/extension/csharp/1.3.0/assetbyname/Microsoft.VisualStudio.Services.VSIXPackage

All packages will have the same name Microsoft.VisualStudio.Services.VSIXPackage, so you'll need to rename it after downloading if you want to know what package it was later.

Installation

In order to install the extension

• Rename the file and give it the *.vsix extension
• Open Visual Studio Code, go to menu File → Open File... or Ctrl + O and select the .vsix file
• If everything went fine, you should see this message at the top of the window:

Extension was successfully installed. Restart to enable it.

Answer 3

If you have a specific (legacy) version of VSCode on your offline instance, pulling the latest extensions might not properly integrate.

To make sure that VSCode and the extensions work together, they must all be installed together on the online machine. This resolves any dependencies (with specific versions), and ensures the exact configuration of the offline instance.

Quick steps:

Install the VSCode version, turn off updating, and install the extensions. Copy the extensions from the installed location and place them on the target machine.

Detailed steps:

Install the exact version of VSCode on online machine. Then turn off updates by going to File -> Preferences -> Settings. In the Settings window, under User Settings -> Application, go to Update section, and change the parameter for Channel to none. This prevents VSCode from reaching out to the internet and auto-updating your versions to the latest.

Then go to the VSCode extensions section and install all of your desired extensions. Copy the installed extensions from their install location (with windows its C:\Users\<username>\.vscode\extensions) to the same location on the target machine.

Works perfectly.

Answer 4

A small powershell to get needed information for also visual studio extension :

function Get-VSMarketPlaceExtension {
    [CmdLetBinding()]
    Param(
        [Parameter(ValueFromPipeline = $true,Mandatory = $true)]
        [string[]]
        $extensionName
    )
    begin {
        $body=@{
            filters = ,@{
            criteria =,@{
                    filterType=7
                    value = $null
                }
            }
            flags = 1712
        }    
    }
    process {
        foreach($Extension in $extensionName) {
            $response =  try {
                $body.filters[0].criteria[0].value = $Extension
                $Query =  $body|ConvertTo-JSON -Depth 4
                (Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/_apis/public/gallery/extensionquery?api-version=6.0-preview" -ErrorAction Stop -Body $Query -Method Post -ContentType "application/json")
            } catch [System.Net.WebException] { 
                Write-Verbose "An exception was caught: $($_.Exception.Message)"
                $_.Exception.Response 
            }
            $statusCodeInt = [int]$response.StatusCode

            if ($statusCodeInt -ge 400) {
                Write-Warning "Erreur sur l'appel d'API :  $($response.StatusDescription)"
                return
            }
            $ObjResults = ($response.Content | ConvertFrom-Json).results
    
            If ($ObjResults.resultMetadata.metadataItems.count -ne 1) {
                Write-Warning "l'extension '$Extension' n'a pas été trouvée."
                return
            }
    
            $Extension = $ObjResults.extensions
    
            $obj2Download = ($Extension.versions[0].properties | Where-Object key -eq 'Microsoft.VisualStudio.Services.Payload.FileName').value
            [PSCustomObject]@{
                displayName = $Extension.displayName
                extensionId = $Extension.extensionId
                deploymentType = ($obj2Download -split '\.')[-1]
                version = [version]$Extension.versions[0].version
                LastUpdate = [datetime]$Extension.versions[0].lastUpdated
                IsValidated = ($Extension.versions[0].flags -eq "validated")
                extensionName = $Extension.extensionName 
                publisher     = $Extension.publisher.publisherName
                SourceURL = $Extension.versions[0].assetUri +"/" + $obj2Download
                FileName = $obj2Download                     
            }             
        }
    }
}

This use marketplace API to get extension information. Exemple of usage and results :

>Get-VSMarketPlaceExtension "ProBITools.MicrosoftReportProjectsforVisualStudio"


displayName    : Microsoft Reporting Services Projects
extensionId    : 85e42f76-6afa-4a68-afb5-033d1fe08d7b
deploymentType : vsix
version        : 2.6.7
LastUpdate     : 13/05/2020 22:23:45
IsValidated    : True
extensionName  : MicrosoftReportProjectsforVisualStudio
publisher      : ProBITools
SourceURL      : https://probitools.gallery.vsassets.io/_apis/public/gallery/publisher/ProBITools/extension/MicrosoftReportProjectsforVisualStudio/2.6.7/assetbyname/Microsoft.DataTools.ReportingServices.vsix
FileName       : Microsoft.DataTools.ReportingServices.vsix

All flags value are available here

Thanks to m4js7er and Adam Haynes for inspiration

Answer 5

Adding to t3chb0t's excellent answer - Use these PowerShell commands to install all VSCode extensions in a folder:

cd C:\PathToFolderWithManyDownloadedExtensionFiles
Get-ChildItem . -Filter *.vsix | ForEach-Object { code --install-extension $_.FullName }

Then, reload VSCode to complete the installation.

Answer 6

adding on to t3chb0t's answer, not sure why the option to download is not visible, so created a patch for those who use GreaseMonkey/ TamperMonkey: you can find the gist code here

Or you can just paste the below lines in your browser console, and the link would magically appear:

let version = document.querySelector('.ux-table-metadata > tbody:nth-child(1) > tr:nth-child(1) > td:nth-child(2) > div:nth-child(1)').innerText
    , itemDetails = window.location.search.replace('?', '').split('&').filter(str => !str.indexOf('itemName')).map(str => str.split('=')[1])[0]
    , [author, extension] = itemDetails.split('.')
    , lAuthor = author.toLowerCase()
    , href = `https://${lAuthor}.gallery.vsassets.io:443/_apis/public/gallery/publisher/${author}/extension/${extension}/${version}/assetbyname/Microsoft.VisualStudio.Services.VSIXPackage`
    , element = document.createElement('a');


element.href = href;
element.className = 'vscode-moreinformation dark';
element.innerHTML = 'download .vsix file';
element.download  = `${extension}.${version}.vsix`;
document.querySelector('.vscode-install-info-container').appendChild(element);