Codespaces browser folder icons differ from VS Code Desktop

[KingManning]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Bug

Body

[Codespaces Stable] Folder icon associations are ignored in the web editor but work in VS Code Desktop

Existing extension-side report

This is intended as a VS Code/GitHub Codespaces cross-report, not as a new Material Icon Theme issue.

The extension-side bug is already tracked here:

• material-extensions/vscode-material-icon-theme#3521
• [Bug]: Folder icon associations silently ignored in GitHub Codespaces web editor (github.dev), works fine in VS Code Desktop material-extensions/vscode-material-icon-theme#3521

That report contains additional debugging evidence and should be linked so the VS Code/Codespaces and extension maintainers can investigate the behaviour from both sides.

Description

Custom folder associations configured for the Material Icon Theme extension work in VS Code Desktop but are not applied in GitHub Codespaces using the Stable VS Code channel.

The Material Icon Theme itself is active in Codespaces, and its other icons render. However, folders covered by material-icon-theme.folders.associations continue to use their default folder icons.

For example:

"material-icon-theme.folders.associations": {
  "career": "docs",
  "learning": "lib",
  "projects": "project"
}

These associations display the expected folder icons in VS Code Desktop but not in GitHub Codespaces Stable.

Steps to reproduce

1. Install and enable PKief.material-icon-theme.

2. Select Material Icon Theme as the active file icon theme.

3. Add custom folder associations to settings.json:

   "material-icon-theme.folders.associations": {
     "career": "docs",
     "learning": "lib",
     "projects": "project"
   }

4. Open a workspace containing folders named career, learning, and projects in VS Code Desktop.

5. Confirm that the configured folder icons are displayed.

6. Open the same repository in a browser-based GitHub Codespace using the Stable channel.

7. Confirm that Material Icon Theme is installed, enabled, and selected.

8. Reload the Codespaces window.

9. Observe that the configured folder associations are not applied.

Expected behaviour

GitHub Codespaces Stable should apply material-icon-theme.folders.associations consistently with VS Code Desktop.

The folders should display the configured docs, lib, and project icons.

Actual behaviour

The folder association settings are present, but the folders retain their default icons in GitHub Codespaces Stable.

Other Material Icon Theme icons render. Re-selecting the icon theme and reloading the Codespaces window does not apply the folder associations.

Environment

• Product: GitHub Codespaces
• Client: VS Code for the Web
• Channel: Stable, not Insiders
• VS Code version: 1.132.0
• Codespace remote OS: Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS
• Extension: Material Icon Theme (PKief.material-icon-theme)
• Comparison: the same folder-association settings work in VS Code Desktop

Request

Please investigate whether the Codespaces/web extension host is retaining or failing to invalidate a stale generated icon-theme manifest after folder-association settings change.

The related extension-side issue reports evidence consistent with persisted web cache or manifest invalidation behaviour. A coordinated investigation with the Material Icon Theme maintainers would help determine whether the correction belongs in VS Code for the Web, the Codespaces integration, the extension, or both.

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[Lesmana24]

This is almost certainly caused by how VS Code for the Web handles virtual filesystems (VFS) and web extension storage differently from the desktop Node.js runtime.

When you configure custom folders.associations in Material Icon Theme, the extension dynamically updates/generates an icon manifest file. On VS Code Desktop, it writes this directly to the extension directory on disk, which triggers VS Code's icon registry to update.

In browser-based Codespaces (github.dev):

1. Web Extension Limits: Extensions run inside a Web Worker sandbox where writing or mutating extension files on disk isn't supported the same way.
2. Manifest Caching: The web editor caches static extension manifests on startup and won't invalidate or reload dynamically generated icon mappings stored in IndexedDB/browser VFS.

Until VS Code for Web provides an API for dynamic icon theme registration, the standard workaround is opening the Codespace in VS Code Desktop (F1 ➔ Open in VS Code Desktop). That delegates execution to the local/remote desktop extension host where custom folder associations work as expected.