Is there any way to set environment variables in Visual Studio Code?

Question

Could you please help me, how to setup environment variables in visual studio code?

Answer 1

Assuming you mean for a debugging session(?) then you can include a env property in your launch configuration.

If you open the .vscode/launch.json file in your workspace or select Debug > Open Configurations then you should see a set of launch configurations for debugging your code. You can then add to it an env property with a dictionary of string:string.

Here is an example for an ASP.NET Core app from their standard web template setting the ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT to Development :

{
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "configurations": [
    {
      "name": ".NET Core Launch (web)",
      "type": "coreclr",
      "request": "launch",
      "preLaunchTask": "build",
      // If you have changed target frameworks, make sure to update the program path.
      "program": "${workspaceFolder}/bin/Debug/netcoreapp2.0/vscode-env.dll",
      "args": [],
      "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
      "stopAtEntry": false,
      "internalConsoleOptions": "openOnSessionStart",
      "launchBrowser": {
        "enabled": true,
        "args": "${auto-detect-url}",
        "windows": {
          "command": "cmd.exe",
          "args": "/C start ${auto-detect-url}"
        },
        "osx": {
          "command": "open"
        },
        "linux": {
          "command": "xdg-open"
        }
      },
      "env": {
        "ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT": "Development"
      },
      "sourceFileMap": {
        "/Views": "${workspaceFolder}/Views"
      }
    },
    {
      "name": ".NET Core Attach",
      "type": "coreclr",
      "request": "attach",
      "processId": "${command:pickProcess}"
    }
  ]
}

Answer 2

In the VSCode launch.json you can use "env" and configure all your environment variables there:

{
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [
        {           
            "env": {
                "NODE_ENV": "development",
                "port":"1337"
            },
            ...
        }
    ]
}

Answer 3

You can load an environment file by setting the envFile property like this:

{
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "configurations": [
    {
      "name": "Launch",
      "type": "go",
      "request": "launch", 
      "mode": "debug",
      "remotePath": "",
      "port": 2345,
      "host": "127.0.0.1",
      "program": "${workspaceFolder}",
      "envFile": "${workspaceFolder}/.env",
      "args": [], 
      "showLog": true
    }
  ]
}

Place the .env file in your folder and add vars like this:

KEY1="TEXT_VAL1"
KEY2='{"key1":val1","key2":"val2"}'

Further Reading: Debugging go in vscode with environment variables

Answer 4

I run vscode from my command line by navigating to the folder with the code and running

code .

If you do that all your bash/zsh variables are passed into vs code. You can update your .bashrc/.zshrc file or just do

export KEY=value

before opening it.

Answer 5

Could they make it any harder? Here's what I did: open system properties, click on advanced, add the environment variable, shut down visual studio and start it up again.