# launch

> Claude/Codex skill by [@microsoft](https://omgskills.com/library/microsoft/index.md) · 193k stars · Updated 2026-09-16

Launch Code OSS (VS Code from sources) into an isolated throwaway profile with unique debug ports so you can drive it with @playwright/cli AND attach a Node debugger via dap-cli in the same session. Use when working on VS Code itself and you want to interact with the running workbench, automate chat or UI flows, test UI features, take screenshots, set breakpoints in the renderer / extension host / main process, or combine UI driving with debugging.

Tags: editor, electron, microsoft, typescript, visual-studio-code

## Install

```sh
git clone https://github.com/microsoft/vscode /tmp/vscode && ln -s /tmp/vscode/.agents/skills/launch ~/.claude/skills/launch
```

## From README

Code OSS Dev - Launch + Debug You're working on VS Code itself and you want to: Launch a Code OSS build from sources that is already signed in (Copilot, GitHub, etc.) so chat / agent flows work end-to-end. Drive it with @playwright/cli over CDP (UI automation). Optionally attach a debugger via dap-cli to set breakpoints in the renderer, extension host, or main process. Run multiple instances at once without port conflicts. This skill provides a launcher that clones an authenticated user-data-dir to a throwaway temp folder, picks free ports for every debug surface, and prints them as JSON so you can pick them up programmatically. The clone is slim: workspace storage, browser caches, file history, cached VSIX backups, and old logs are excluded by default. On macOS, auth tokens live in the OS keychain plus small files inside User/globalStorage - both of which are preserved.

## Links

- HTML page: https://omgskills.com/skills/microsoft/vscode/launch/
- GitHub: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode
- Author: [@microsoft](https://omgskills.com/library/microsoft/index.md)

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