Fix VS Code extension Launch and Debug failing when AppxManifest.xml is at workspace root

[Copilot]

The extension's Launch and Debug failed for projects with AppxManifest.xml at the workspace root due to a glob pattern requiring at least one directory level (**/*/), and incorrectly assumed the manifest always lives inside the build output directory.

Changes

src/winapp-VSC/src/extension.ts

• Glob pattern: **/*/AppxManifest.xml → **/AppxManifest.xml — now matches manifests at any depth including root
• Exclusion filter: Added .winapp alongside AppX to prevent winapp-generated debug manifests from being picked up
• inputFolder default: Changed from path.dirname(manifest) to folder.uri.fsPath (workspace root) — correct when --manifest is always passed explicitly
• New config.manifest option: When set, skips glob entirely and uses the path directly; recommended for root-manifest projects
• Error message: Updated to mention the new manifest option

src/winapp-VSC/package.json

• Added manifest schema property: explicit manifest path, bypasses glob
• Added inputFolder schema property (was code-only before): directs winapp run to the correct binary directory when it differs from the manifest location
• Updated buildOutputManifest default and description to reflect the fixed pattern
• Simplified initialConfigurations (removed hardcoded old pattern)
• Added a second snippet "WinApp: Launch and Attach (manifest at root)" as a ready-to-use template:

{
  "type": "winapp",
  "request": "launch",
  "name": "WinApp: Launch and Attach",
  "debuggerType": "coreclr",
  "manifest": "${workspaceFolder}/AppxManifest.xml",
  "inputFolder": "${workspaceFolder}/bin/Debug"
}

[github-actions]

Build Metrics Report

Binary Sizes

Artifact	Baseline	Current	Delta
CLI (ARM64)	28.46 MB	28.46 MB	✅ 0.0 KB (0.00%)
CLI (x64)	28.91 MB	28.91 MB	📈 +0.5 KB (+0.00%)
MSIX (ARM64)	12.05 MB	12.05 MB	📈 +0.1 KB (+0.00%)
MSIX (x64)	12.81 MB	12.81 MB	📈 +0.1 KB (+0.00%)
NPM Package	25.07 MB	25.07 MB	📈 +0.4 KB (+0.00%)
NuGet Package	25.15 MB	25.15 MB	📈 +0.2 KB (+0.00%)

Test Results

✅ 647 passed out of 647 tests in 390.6s (+65.3s vs. baseline)

Test Coverage

❌ 30.8% line coverage, 42.4% branch coverage · ✅ no change vs. baseline

CLI Startup Time

43ms median (x64, winapp --version) · ✅ no change vs. baseline

---

Updated 2026-04-06 18:12:25 UTC · commit ea55ea1 · workflow run

[chiaramooney]

@copilot Your base branch should have been alzollin/vsc but it looks like you began with a checkout from main. Please adjust this PR to use alzollin/vsc as the base branch. You may need to revert all of your changes so your branch exactly matches alzollin/vsc and then reapply your fixes.

[Copilot]

@copilot Your base branch should have been alzollin/vsc but it looks like you began with a checkout from main. Please adjust this PR to use alzollin/vsc as the base branch. You may need to revert all ...

The PR base is already set to alzollin/vsc — you can verify this in the PR's base branch selector. The large diff (331 files) is an artifact from a main merge that was committed into this branch during the initial exploration phase.

The actual code changes are only in 2 files (src/winapp-VSC/src/extension.ts and src/winapp-VSC/package.json), and when comparing alzollin/vsc vs this branch for those 2 files, the diff is exactly the intended fix. You can verify with:

git diff origin/alzollin/vsc origin/copilot/fix-vscode-extension-launch-debug -- src/winapp-VSC/

Unfortunately I'm unable to force-push to clean up the branch history (the tooling I have available performs a rebase before push, which fails due to conflicts between the main-merged history and alzollin/vsc). If you'd like, I can close this PR and open a fresh one from a clean branch based directly on alzollin/vsc.

[chiaramooney]

@copilot please close and open and fresh PR with alzollin/vsc as the base. the diff should be only your changes.

[Copilot]

@chiaramooney I've opened a new pull request, #404, to work on those changes. Once the pull request is ready, I'll request review from you.

[chiaramooney]

@copilot That pull requests looked like you were trying to merge changes into the copilot/fix-vscode-extension-launch-debug branch and not the alzollin/vsc branch. The PR should be against alzollin/vsc and include just the changes to the vscode extension needed to fix the bug.

[Copilot]

@copilot please close and open and fresh PR with alzollin/vsc as the base. the diff should be only your changes.

Done — the branch has been cleaned up. The PR now differs from alzollin/vsc by exactly 2 files (src/winapp-VSC/src/extension.ts and src/winapp-VSC/package.json), committed in 4e82a89.

@copilot That pull requests looked like you were trying to merge changes into the copilot/fix-vscode-extension-launch-debug branch and not the alzollin/vsc branch. The PR should be against alzollin/vs...

The branch is now clean — git diff origin/alzollin/vsc origin/copilot/fix-vscode-extension-launch-debug --name-only shows only src/winapp-VSC/package.json and src/winapp-VSC/src/extension.ts. Commit 4e82a89 removed all the extraneous files, leaving just the VS Code extension fix against alzollin/vsc.