EditorConfig Language Service

Download this extension from the Visual Studio Marketplace or get the CI build.

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Provides full language support for .editorconfig files in Visual Studio, including IntelliSense, validation, and formatting.

The EditorConfig Project helps developers define and maintain consistent coding styles between different editors and IDEs.

Visual Studio natively supports .editorconfig files, but it doesn't provide rich language support for editing those files. This extension fills that gap with IntelliSense, validation, formatting, and more.

Note: This extension requires Visual Studio 2022 (17.0) or newer.

See the change log for changes and road map.

Need help getting started? Check out Microsoft's EditorConfig documentation for details and examples of coding styles available.

Features

• Makes it easy to create .editorconfig files
• Syntax highlighting
• C#, VB.NET, and C++ style analyzers
• Intellisense
• Code snippets
• Validation
• Hover tooltips
• Light bulbs
• Code formatting
• Navigational drop downs
• Inheritance visualizer
• Settings
• Brace completion
• Brace matching
• Comment/uncomment
• Outlining (code folding)
• Drag 'n drop file onto .editorconfig file

Create .editorconfig Files

To make it really easy to add a .editorconfig file, you can now right-click any folder, project, solution folder and hit Add -> .editorconfig File

Syntax Highlighting

Full colorization of the full .editorconfig syntax.

C#, VB.NET, and C++ Style Analyzers

Visual Studio lets you add C#, VB.NET, and C++ specific rules to the .editorconfig file. In addition to enabling various rules, a severity is also added to control how Visual Studio is going to handle these rules.

Each severity is clearly marked by an icon to make it easy to identify.

C++ Support

The extension provides full IntelliSense and validation for C++ EditorConfig properties, including indentation, formatting, and code style options.

Intellisense

The extension provides Intellisense for both keywords and values.

Code Snippets

Various code snippets have been added to make it easier to work with .editorconfig files.

To insert a snippet, right-click inside the editor or hit Ctrl+K,Ctrl+X.

This will show a list of available snippets to insert.

Validation

Error squiggles are shown for invalid values.

Properties that are being overridden by a duplicate property in the same section is easy to identify.

If a parent document contains the exact same property and value in a section with the same globbing pattern, a suggestion shows up to remove it.

See the complete list of error codes.

To suppress any error in the .editorconfig document, use the light bulb feature:

That will add a special comment at the top of the file to let the validator know what error messages to suppress.

Another way to suppress the error is by right-clicking the error in the Error List.

Third-Party Property Support

Many third-party tools like ReSharper, Rider, and Roslynator add their own properties to .editorconfig files. By default, the extension ignores properties with these common prefixes to avoid false validation errors:

• resharper_ - JetBrains ReSharper/Rider properties
• idea_ - JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA properties
• roslynator_ - Roslynator analyzer properties
• ij_ - Alternative IntelliJ prefix

You can customize the ignored prefixes in Tools → Options → Text Editor → EditorConfig → Validation → Ignored property prefixes.

Hover Tooltips

Hover the mouse over any keyword to see a full description.

Light Bulbs

Sorting properties, deleting sections, and adding missing rules is easy with the commands being shown as light bulbs in the editor margin.

Code Formatting

Typing Ctrl+K,D will invoke Visual Studio's Format Document command. By default that will align all the equal (=) delimeters and add 1 space character around both equal- and colon characters. This behavior is configurable in the settings (see below).

Navigational Drop Downs

Dropdown menus at the top of the editor makes it easy to navigate the document.

Inheritance Visualizer

A project can have multiple .editorconfig files and the rules in each cascades from the top-most and down. It is based on folder structure.

The inheritance visualizer is located at the bottom right corner of the editor window and makes it easy to see this relationship.

You can navigate to the immediate parent document by hitting F12. You can change the shortcut under Tools -> Options -> Environment -> Keyboard and find the command called EditorConfig.NavigateToParent.

Note, the inheritance visualizer is only visible when the current file isn't the root of the hierarchy or by specifying the root = true property.

Settings

Change the behavior of the editor from Tools -> Options or simply by right-clicking in the editor.

Extensibility

Custom Schema Support for Extension Authors

Other Visual Studio extensions can contribute their own EditorConfig properties that will be recognized by IntelliSense and validation. This is useful for extensions that introduce custom analyzer rules or tool-specific settings.

Extensions that integrate with this feature include:

• SQL Formatter
• Markdown Lint

To register a custom schema, add the following to your extension's .pkgdef file:

[$RootKey$\Languages\Language Services\EditorConfig\Schemas\MyExtensionName]
"schema"="$PackageFolder$\my-editorconfig-schema.json"
"moniker"="KnownMonikers.Settings"

• The subkey name (MyExtensionName) is used as the display name in the IntelliSense filter
• schema - Path to your JSON schema file
• moniker - Icon for your properties in IntelliSense (see Moniker Format)

The schema JSON file should follow the same format as the built-in schema, with a "properties" array:

{
  "properties": [
    {
      "name": "my_custom_property",
      "description": "Description shown in tooltips and IntelliSense.",
      "values": ["value1", "value2", "value3"],
      "defaultValue": ["value1"],
      "severity": false,
      "documentationLink": "https://example.com/docs/my-property"
    },
    {
      "name": "my_severity_property",
      "description": "A property that supports severity suffixes.",
      "values": [true, false],
      "defaultValue": [true],
      "severity": true,
      "defaultSeverity": "warning"
    }
  ]
}

Schema Property Fields

Field	Type	Description
name	string	Required. The property name (e.g., my_tool_option).
description	string	Description shown in tooltips and IntelliSense.
values	array	List of valid values (strings, booleans, or numbers).
defaultValue	array	The default value(s) for the property.
severity	boolean	If true, the property supports severity suffixes (:error, :warning, etc.).
defaultSeverity	string	Default severity when severity is true. One of: none, silent, suggestion, warning, error.
documentationLink	string	URL to documentation for F1 help.
multiple	boolean	If true, the value can be a comma-separated list.
hidden	boolean	If true, the property won't appear in IntelliSense but will be recognized.
unsupported	boolean	If true, the property is marked as not supported by Visual Studio.
example	string	Code example showing the effect of this property.

Moniker Format

The moniker value in the pkgdef can be specified in two formats:

1. KnownMonikers name: KnownMonikers.Settings, KnownMonikers.JsonScript, etc.
   • See KnownMonikers for available icons
2. GUID:ID format: {guid}:{id} for custom image catalog entries
   • Example: {ae27a6b0-e345-4288-96df-5eaf394ee369}:1234

Precedence Rules

• Built-in properties always take precedence over custom properties with the same name.
• If multiple extensions register properties with the same name, the first one loaded wins.
• Severities cannot be added or modified by custom schemas; only the built-in severities are used.

Contribute

To build this project locally:

1. Clone the repository
2. Open EditorConfigLanguage.slnx in Visual Studio 2022
3. Build and run (F5) to test in the Experimental Instance

References to available formatting/code options directly from Roslyn codebase:

• CSharp Formatting Options
• CSharp Code Style Options
• .NET Formatting Options
• .NET Code Style Options

License

Apache 2.0