Get the tools

Visual Studio Extensibility Cookbook

To write extensions you have to install the extensibility workload. That’s technically all you need, but this set of documentation make use of the community driven extension called Extensibility Essentials. Each version of Visual Studio has its own version: Extensibility Essentials2019 or Extensibility Essentials2022.

Install extensibility workload

Open the Visual Studio Installer from Tools -> Get Tools and Features… top menu inside Visual Studio and make sure to install the Visual Studio extension development workload found toward the bottom.

VS Installer showing the extensibility workload

Install Extensibility Essentials

Install the Extensibility Essentials by going to Extensions -> Manage Extensions and search for extensibility.

Install Extensibility Essentials from the Extension Manager dialog

That’s it, you are now ready to start developing your first extension.

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