XLIDE: VBA without excel

XLIDE - Excel VBA for VS Code

Edit Excel VBA code directly in VS Code. Browse modules in a sidebar tree, edit with syntax highlighting and symbol navigation (Go to Definition, Find All References, Rename Symbol), save changes back to the .xlsm file with Ctrl+S, and expose every operation to GitHub Copilot via the Language Model API.

Requirements

• VS Code 1.95+
• Python 3.10+ -- the VBA read/write backend runs as a child process
• Python packages: pyOpenVBA >= 3.0.1, openpyxl >= 3.1.0

No COM automation, no Office installation, no win32com -- works on Windows, macOS, Linux, and remote containers.

Development setup

git clone https://github.com/WilliamSmithEdward/xlide_vscode.git cd xlide_vscode # TypeScript side npm install npm run compile # type-check + esbuild bundle -> out/extension.js # Python side (optional venv) python -m venv .venv .venv\Scripts\activate # or: source .venv/bin/activate pip install -r python/requirements.txt

Press F5 in VS Code to launch an Extension Development Host with the extension loaded and the watch compiler running.

Architecture

xlide_vscode/ src/ extension.ts # activate() -- wires everything together pythonBridge.ts # JSON-RPC 2.0 client over child_process stdio xlideFileSystem.ts # xlide-vba:// virtual FileSystemProvider xlsmExplorer.ts # Sidebar TreeDataProvider commands.ts # VS Code command registrations agentTools.ts # vscode.lm.registerTool() for Copilot moduleDump.ts # Shared export-to-folder logic (UI + AI lane) vbaSymbolIndex.ts # In-memory cross-module symbol index vbaLanguageProviders.ts # DocumentSymbol / Definition / References / Rename python/ server.py # JSON-RPC 2.0 server (stdin/stdout, newline-delimited) xlide/ vba_io.py # pyOpenVBA wrappers -- listModules, readModule, writeModule excel_io.py # openpyxl wrappers -- readCells, writeCells syntaxes/ vba.tmLanguage.json # TextMate grammar (MS-VBAL spec-accurate) language-configuration/ vba-language-configuration.json # Brackets, indent rules, folding walkthrough/ # Markdown content for VS Code Getting Started tab docs/ architecture.md # Full architecture reference

Key design decisions

Decision	Rationale
Long-lived Python process	Amortises ~200 ms Python startup across all requests
FileSystemProvider over TextDocumentContentProvider	Read/write virtual FS -- Ctrl+S triggers writeFile with no custom save command
Virtual URI scheme xlide-vba://	Decouples workbook path + module name from the editor's file concept
Shared moduleDump.ts	Export logic is single-source-of-truth for both UI commands and Copilot agent tools
No COM / no Office	Portability -- pyOpenVBA reads the OVBA binary format directly
Confirmation on write tools	Prevents AI agents from silently mutating production workbooks

JSON-RPC methods (Python bridge)

Method	Params	Returns
listModules	{ path }	[{ name, type }]
listSubs	{ path, module }	[{ name, kind, line }]
readModule	{ path, module }	{ source }
writeModule	{ path, module, source }	{}
renameModule	{ path, module, newName }	{}
deleteModule	{ path, module }	{}
readCells	{ path, sheet, range }	{ values }
writeCells	{ path, sheet, startCell, data }	{}

VBA language ID

Registered as vba in package.json with extensions .bas, .cls, .frm. The TextMate grammar in syntaxes/vba.tmLanguage.json is scoped to source.vba and covers all reserved identifiers from MS-VBAL v20250520 (section 3.3.5.2: statement-keywords, marker-keywords, operator-identifiers, reserved-names, special-forms, reserved-type-identifiers, literal-identifiers, def-type directives, and implementation-reserved identifiers).

Build commands

Command	Purpose
npm run compile	Type-check + dev bundle
npm run watch	Incremental type-check + esbuild watch
npm run package	Production bundle (minified)
vsce package --no-dependencies	Build .vsix for distribution

Copilot agent tools

Tool name	Reference	Reads/Writes	Confirm
xlide_listModules	#xlideListModules	R	No
xlide_listSubs	#xlideListSubs	R	No
xlide_readModule	#xlideReadModule	R	No
xlide_writeModule	#xlideWriteModule	W	Yes
xlide_readCells	#xlideReadCells	R	No
xlide_writeCells	#xlideWriteCells	W	Yes
xlide_exportModules	#xlideExportModules	W	Yes
xlide_configureExportMode	#xlideConfigureExportMode	W	Yes

Per-workbook export config

Stored beside each workbook as <workbookname>.extension.repo.json:

{ "exportFolder": "C:/absolute/path/to/export", "exportMode": "trueUp", "managedFiles": ["Module1.bas", "Sheet1.cls"] }

trueUp (default) -- replace existing, add new, delete stale files tracked in managedFiles. replaceExistingOnly -- only replaces files already on disk.

Live Share

XLIDE VBA browsing for Live Share guests is currently not supported. Microsoft's Live Share platform restricts the shared-service RPC channel (vsls.shareService) to extensions on a curated first-party allowlist, so third-party extensions like XLIDE cannot proxy VBA read/write calls from a guest to the host. The XLIDE Explorer therefore returns an empty tree for guests and shows an informational welcome view.

What still works in a Live Share session:

Role	XLIDE behaviour
Host	Full local VBA editing -- open, edit, save .xlsm/.xlsb/.xlam modules exactly as if no session were active.
Guest	Can fully view and edit any VBA module the host has open in the editor (Live Share shares those buffers normally). Cannot browse the XLIDE Explorer or open new modules independently -- only the host can navigate and open them. XLIDE panel shows a "not supported" notice.
Guest without XLIDE installed	No action needed -- XLIDE is host-only. Joining a session does not require the extension.

Related upstream issue: microsoft/live-share#4877 (third-party shareService allowlist, closed as Not Planned).

Further reading

• docs/architecture.md -- full architecture reference
• MS-VBAL specification
• pyOpenVBA