Install the extension¶

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

Install the Ballerina extension¶

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

Install the Visual Studio Code editor version 1.60.0 or later.
Download and install Ballerina.
Install the Ballerina VS Code Extension.
Open a Ballerina (.bal) file or a Ballerina package to activate the extension.

Open Ballerina packages¶

You can 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:

From the command line, execute code <path-to-package-dir>.
From VS Code, click File > Open Folder....

Open multiple Ballerina packages¶

Once you have one Ballerina package opened in the VS Code editor, you can add other related packages to the same workspace.

For more details, see the instructions on adding folders to multi-root workspaces in the VS Code editor.