The sections below walk you through how to get started with the Ballerina VS Code extension by installing it and opening a Ballerina package via it.

Install the Ballerina extension

Follow the steps below to set up the required prerequisites and install the Ballerina extension.

1. Install the Visual Studio Code editor version 1.60.0 or later.

2. Download and install Ballerina.

3. Install the Ballerina VS Code Extension.

4. Open a single Ballerina package or multiple Ballerina packages to activate the extension.

Open Ballerina packages

You can either work on a single Ballerina package at a time or use multi-root workspaces of VS Code to work on several related Ballerina packages at the same time.

Info: When the extension is activated properly, you can see the Ballerina SDK: <version> in the status bar at the bottom left corner.

Open a single Ballerina package

Use one of the following options to open a Ballerina package:

1. From the command line, navigate to the directory path of the package, and execute the code . command.

2. From the top menu of the VS Code editor, click File > Open Folder..., and select the package.

Open multiple Ballerina packages

To open multiple Ballerina packages as a VS Code workspace, add all the related Ballerina packages to the workspace using one of the following methods.

Info: If you already have one Ballerina package opened in the VS Code editor, you can add other related packages to the same workspace. For instructions, see adding folders to multi-root workspaces.

1. Add each Ballerina package to the workspace using the Add folder to workspace option in the top menu of the VS Code editor.

2. Click the VS Code workspace file option in the top menu of the VS Code editor to import the packages of an already created workspace to a new workspace.