Sharing Recommended VSCode Settings in Your Project Repository

Maintaining a consistent development environment in team projects, such as sharing recommended VSCode settings, can significantly improve developer experience.

Recent experience has shown me that committing a settings.json file directly may clash with personal preferences. Providing a settings.json.sample file, on the other hand, allows team members to quickly adopt project standards while retaining the freedom to customize their environment.

Step-by-Step Guide

1. Create Your Sample Settings File

First, create a settings.json.sample file in your project's .vscode directory. It serves as a template for the recommended VSCode settings specific to your project and should contain all the recommended settings that you believe will benefit your team. For example:

{

  "typescript.tsdk": "node_modules/typescript/lib",

  "editor.codeActionsOnSave": {

    "source.fixAll.eslint": "explicit"

  }

}

Note to self (author): In the future I qant to add a link to an article explaining my full recommended VSCode settings.json for javascript projects, which I plan to publish in the series "My default project setup".

2. Add Instructions to Your Documentation

In your README.md or contributing guidelines, include a section on setting up the development environment. Here, mention the settings.json.sample file and provide instructions for using it:

### Copy Recommended VSCode Settings



To align your VSCode settings with the project's recommended configuration:



1. Navigate to the `.vscode` directory at the root of the project.

2. Copy the `settings.json.sample` file and rename the copy to `settings.json`.

3. If desired, customize the `settings.json` with your personal preferences.

3. Update Your .gitignore

To prevent the actual settings.json from being committed to the repository, ensure your .gitignore file includes the following line:

.vscode/*

!.vscode/settings.json.sample

This step is crucial to keeping personal or sensitive settings out of the repository.

Best Practices

• 
  Commenting: Include comments in your settings.json.sample to explain the purpose and benefit of each setting. This will help team members understand why certain settings are recommended.


• 
  Regular Updates: Periodically review and update the sample file to reflect any changes in your development environment or new best practices.


• 
  Encourage Feedback: Invite your team to suggest additions or changes to the settings.json.sample file. This collaborative approach ensures that the file remains relevant and beneficial to everyone.

Conclusion

Sharing a settings.json.sample file is less intrusive approach to share recommended VSCode settings. But it might be a bit more work to maintain the file compared to just committing .vscode/settings.json (What I still prefer for a personal project)

Happy coding!