VS Code to Visual Studio Theme Converter Action

This GitHub Action converts a Visual Studio Code (VS Code) theme to a theme that can be installed in Visual Studio.

Prerequisites

The runner executing this Action needs to have the following tools installed:

• Git
• the dotnet CLI

How it works

The steps that this action uses for converting a VS Code theme to a Visual Studio VSIX:

1. Clone ThemeConverter repo https://github.com/microsoft/theme-converter-for-vs

2. Build project dotnet build ThemeConverter.csproj

3. Run bin\Debug\net6.0\ThemeConverter.exe with extension .json file → creates a .pkgdef file

4. In VS 2022 create new Empty VSIX Project

   a. This is done programmatically with the vsix template for dotnet new

5. Add converted .pkgdef file(s)

6. Edit the properties of the .pkgdef file:

   a. Set Copy to Output Directory to Copy always.

   b. Set Include in VSIX to true.

   c. Open the source.extension.vsixmanifest file, then select Assets, select New.

   d. Set Type to Microsoft.VisualStudio.VsPackage, and Source to File on filesystem.

   e. Select Browse and select the .pkgdef you added. Select OK.

   f. Edit other fields in the vsixmanifest as desired (author, version, company, etc).

7. Build solution → VSIX is in output folder

Resources

• Bring VS Code Themes to Visual Studio (YouTube video)
• Microsoft DevBlog post discussing custom Visual Studio themes and the Theme Converter
• theme-converter-for-vs GitHub repo
• VSIX extension schema 2.0 reference