Publish a Visual Studio extension via command line

You can publish a Visual Studio extension to the Visual Studio Marketplace ↗ using the VsixPublisher.exe command-line tool. This is useful for CI/CD pipelines and automated publishing workflows.

VsixPublisher.exe is located at:

${VSInstallDir}\VSSDK\VisualStudioIntegration\Tools\Bin\VsixPublisher.exe

Commands

publish

Publishes an extension to the Marketplace. The payload can be a .vsix, .msi, or .exe file, or a link to use as the "more info URL". If the extension already exists, the command publishes to its listing; otherwise, it creates a new listing.

Option	Description
`payload` (required)	Path to the package to publish, or a link to use as the "more info URL".
`publishManifest` (required)	Path to the publish manifest JSON file.
`ignoreWarnings`	Comma-separated list of warnings to ignore (for example, `VSIXValidatorWarning01,VSIXValidatorWarning02`).
`personalAccessToken`	Personal Access Token (PAT) for authentication. If neither this option nor `oidc` is specified, the `login` command gets the PAT from the saved publisher credentials. Don't specify this option together with `oidc`.
`oidc`	Uses trusted publishing from GitHub Actions instead of a PAT. This flag doesn't take a value. Requires a Marketplace trusted publishing policy and `id-token: write` permission in the GitHub Actions job. See Publish from GitHub Actions with trusted publishing.

VsixPublisher.exe publish -payload "{path to vsix}" -publishManifest "{path to vs-publish.json}" -ignoreWarnings "VSIXValidatorWarning01,VSIXValidatorWarning02" -personalAccessToken "{Your PAT}"

To publish from a GitHub Actions workflow configured for trusted publishing, use -oidc instead of -personalAccessToken:

VsixPublisher.exe publish -payload "{path to vsix}" -publishManifest "{path to vs-publish.json}" -oidc

`deletePublisher`

Deletes a publisher on the Marketplace.

Option	Description
`publisherName` (required)	The publisher identifier.
`personalAccessToken` (required)	Personal Access Token (PAT) used to authenticate the publisher.

VsixPublisher.exe deletePublisher -publisherName "{Publisher Name}" -personalAccessToken "{Personal Access Token}"

`deleteExtension`

Deletes an extension from the Marketplace.

Warning

This command deletes the whole Marketplace entry, not one payload or extension version. To remove an eligible version, use the publisher portal.

Option	Description
`extensionName` (required)	The name of the extension to delete.
`publisherName` (required)	The publisher identifier.
`personalAccessToken`	PAT for authentication. If not specified, the PAT is obtained from the logged-in publisher credentials.

VsixPublisher.exe deleteExtension -extensionName "{Extension Name}" -publisherName "{Publisher Name}"

`login`

Logs a publisher into the machine.

Option	Description
`personalAccessToken` (required)	Personal Access Token (PAT) used to authenticate the publisher.
`publisherName` (required)	The publisher identifier.
`overwrite`	Overwrites any existing publisher credentials.

VsixPublisher.exe login -personalAccessToken "{Personal Access Token}" -publisherName "{Publisher Name}"

`logout`

Logs a publisher out of the machine.

Option	Description
`publisherName` (required)	The publisher identifier.
`ignoreMissingPublisher`	Doesn't report an error if the publisher isn't logged in.

VsixPublisher.exe logout -publisherName "{Publisher Name}"

`createPublisher`

Caution

The createPublisher command is no longer available. Create a publisher on the Visual Studio Marketplace ↗.

Publish from GitHub Actions with trusted publishing

Trusted publishing lets a GitHub Actions workflow publish your Visual Studio extension without storing a Personal Access Token (PAT). Use the -oidc flag with the publish command to authenticate by using the workflow's OpenID Connect (OIDC) identity.

VsixPublisher.exe requests an OIDC token from GitHub Actions with the audience marketplace.visualstudio.com, then exchanges it for a short-lived Marketplace session token. The tool uses that session token to publish the extension.

Trusted publishing prerequisites

Before publishing by using -oidc:

Use a version of VsixPublisher.exe that supports the oidc option.
Create a publisher in the Visual Studio Marketplace ↗ and configure a trusted publishing policy that authorizes your GitHub repository and workflow.
Set the publisher property in your publish manifest to the Marketplace publisher identifier associated with that policy.
Grant the publishing job id-token: write permission so it can request an OIDC token from GitHub Actions.
Make the extension payload, publish manifest, overview file, and any other referenced assets available on the Windows runner.

Configure the workflow

Add the following permissions to the GitHub Actions job that publishes your extension:

permissions:
  contents: read
  id-token: write

The id-token: write permission allows the job to request an OIDC token. It doesn't, by itself, authorize publishing to the Marketplace; the repository and workflow must also match the publisher's trusted publishing policy.

After your workflow builds the extension or downloads its build artifacts, add a publishing step like the following. Replace the executable, payload, and manifest paths with the paths used by your workflow. The executable is normally installed under <VSInstallDir>\VSSDK\VisualStudioIntegration\Tools\Bin\VsixPublisher.exe.

- name: Publish extension to Visual Studio Marketplace
  shell: pwsh
  run: |
    & "C:\path\to\VsixPublisher.exe" publish `
      -payload ".\artifacts\TestPublish.vsix" `
      -publishManifest ".\publishManifest.json" `
      -oidc
    if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
      exit $LASTEXITCODE
    }

You don't need to run VsixPublisher.exe login or provide a PAT when using -oidc. The tool obtains the token from the GitHub Actions job automatically.

Important

Don't combine -oidc with -personalAccessToken. If OIDC token acquisition or the Marketplace token exchange fails, publishing fails; the tool doesn't fall back to saved PAT credentials.

Troubleshoot trusted publishing

Problem	What to check
The tool reports that `-oidc` is an invalid argument.	Confirm that the installed version of `VsixPublisher.exe` supports trusted publishing and that the flag has a single hyphen.
The tool reports missing GitHub Actions OIDC environment variables.	Run the command in a GitHub Actions job with `id-token: write` permission. The implementation requires `ACTIONS_ID_TOKEN_REQUEST_URL` and `ACTIONS_ID_TOKEN_REQUEST_TOKEN`, which GitHub Actions supplies. Running the same command in a local terminal doesn't provide these variables.
The tool can't exchange the OIDC token for a Marketplace session token.	Check that the Marketplace trusted publishing policy authorizes the repository and workflow, and that the publish manifest specifies the correct publisher identifier.
The tool reports conflicting authentication arguments.	Remove `-personalAccessToken` when using `-oidc`.

Publish manifest file

The publishManifest file provides extension metadata for the Marketplace. For a VSIX, the identity property only needs internalName; Marketplace gets the other identity properties from the VSIX manifest. For an MSI, EXE, or link extension, specify the required identity properties in the publish manifest.

VSIX extension example:

{
    "$schema": "http://json.schemastore.org/vsix-publish",
    "categories": [ "build", "coding" ],
    "identity": {
        "internalName": "MyVsixExtension"
    },
    "overview": "overview.md",
    "priceCategory": "free",
    "publisher": "MyPublisherName",
    "private": false,
    "qna": true,
    "repo": "https://github.com/MyPublisherName/MyVsixExtension"
}

MSI/EXE or link extension example:

{
    "$schema": "http://json.schemastore.org/vsix-publish",
    "categories": [ "build", "coding" ],
    "identity": {
        "description": "My extension.",
        "displayName": "My Extension",
        "icon": "\\path\\to\\icon.ico",
        "installTargets": [
            {
                "sku": "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Community",
                "version": "[10.0, 16.0)"
            }
        ],
        "internalName": "MyExtension",
        "language": "en-US",
        "tags": [ "tag1", "tag2" ],
        "version": "3.7.0",
        "vsixId": "MyExtension"
    },
    "overview": "overview.md",
    "priceCategory": "free",
    "publisher": "MyPublisherName",
    "private": false,
    "qna": true,
    "repo": "https://github.com/MyPublisherName/MyVsixExtension"
}

For non-VSIX extensions, description, displayName, icon, installTargets, language, and version are required in identity. tags and vsixId are optional. The icon path can be relative to the publish manifest file. The language value can use a locale name (such as en-US) or a language identifier (such as 1033).

Asset files

You can use asset files to embed images and other files in the Marketplace overview. For example, if overview.md contains:

TestExtension
...
This is test extension.
![Test logo](images/testlogo.png "Test logo")

Map the image's path on disk to the path used in the Markdown by adding an assetFiles entry to the publish manifest:

{
    "assetFiles": [
        {
            "pathOnDisk": "\\path\\to\\images\\testlogo.png",
            "targetPath": "images/testlogo.png"
        }
    ],
    "categories": [ "build", "coding" ],
    "identity": {
        "internalName": "MyVsixExtension"
    },
    "overview": "overview.md",
    "priceCategory": "free",
    "publisher": "MyPublisherName"
}

Publishing walkthrough

Prerequisites

Install the Visual Studio SDK. For more information, see Install the Visual Studio SDK ↗.

Create a Visual Studio extension

This walkthrough uses a default VSPackage extension, but the publishing steps apply to other extension types too.

Create a C# VSPackage named TestPublish that has a menu command. For more information, see Create your first extension: Hello World ↗.

Package your extension

Update the extension .vsixmanifest with the correct product name, author, and version.
Build your extension in Release mode. The VSIX is generated in the bin\Release folder.
Optionally, double-click the VSIX to verify that it installs.

Test the extension

Before you distribute the extension, build and test it to make sure it installs correctly in the experimental instance of Visual Studio.

In Visual Studio, start debugging to open an experimental instance.
In the experimental instance, go to Tools > Extensions and Updates. Confirm that TestPublish appears in the center pane and is enabled.
On the Tools menu, confirm that you see the test command.

Publish the extension

Make sure that you built the latest version of your extension in Release mode.
Create a vs-publish.json publish manifest and an overview.md file.
Open Developer PowerShell and navigate to the VsixPublisher.exe directory:
```
${VSInstallDir}\VSSDK\VisualStudioIntegration\Tools\Bin
```
Choose the authentication method for your environment:
- To authenticate with a Personal Access Token (PAT), use:
```
VsixPublisher.exe publish -payload "{path to vsix file}" -publishManifest "{path to vs-publish.json}" -personalAccessToken "{PAT}"
```
- Omit -personalAccessToken if you previously saved credentials for the publisher by using the login command.
- To authenticate from a GitHub Actions workflow configured for trusted publishing, use:
```
VsixPublisher.exe publish -payload "{path to vsix file}" -publishManifest "{path to vs-publish.json}" -oidc
```

On successful publishing, you'll see:

Uploaded 'MyVsixExtension' to the Marketplace.

Verify your extension on the Visual Studio Marketplace ↗.

Install the extension from the Marketplace

Now that the extension is published, install it in Visual Studio and test it there.

In Visual Studio, go to Extensions > Manage Extensions.
Select Online and search for TestPublish.
Select Download to schedule the installation.
Close all instances of Visual Studio to complete the installation.

Publish multiple VSIX payloads

Publish each VSIX to the same Marketplace entry by using the same publish manifest for every upload. Keep the Marketplace identity and VSIX ID consistent across packages.

Run publish once for each package, using the authentication method described in Publish the extension. Each upload is independent; if one fails, earlier successful uploads aren't rolled back.

For package requirements, selection rules, and a worked example, see Publish multiple VSIX payloads in one Marketplace entry.

Remove the extension

You can remove the extension from the Visual Studio Marketplace and from your computer.

Remove the extension from the Marketplace

To remove the Marketplace listing, use the following command:

VsixPublisher.exe deleteExtension -publisherName "TestVSIXPublisher" -extensionName "MyVsixExtension"

On successful deletion, you'll see:

Removed 'MyVsixExtension' from the Marketplace.