Steven's Notebook

Look Ma - No Hands!

Macintosh Opening a Folder in VS Code

I find it hard to believe, but all these years using a Mac running OSX (now MacOS, I suppose), I’ve never used Automator. Not until today, that is. I use Visual Studio Code (VSCode) all the time, and always have either opened a terminal (using iTerm2) and opened my projects via code ., or opened VSCode and then used the File|Open Folder… dialog box. Neither is very satisfying when I’ve got a Finder window open – which tbh isn’t that often; I find the Finder not terribly satisfying to use but that’s beside the point. Anyway… Here’s how to get it set up:

  • Launch Automator (Cmd-Space, type “Automator”)
  • Choose Quick Action
  • Choose “files or folders” in “Finder.app”
  • Add “Run Shell Script” by dragging it into the workflow area
  • Set Pass Input to “as arguments”
  • paste in this script
    for f in "$@"; do
    open -a 'Visual Studio Code' "$f"
    done

    MacOS Automator, a workflow to Open a file/folder in VS Code
    select for full-size

  • Save the workflow as “Open in VS Code”

Now you can go to any folder via the Finder, right-click on the folder, then choose “Open in VS Code” from the Quick Actions menu item.

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