LeetCode with Auth Sync

VS Code extension:

Firefox extension:

Chrome extension:

Solve LeetCode problems in VS Code with browser auth sync.

Unofficial fork notice: this extension is maintained by wilmtang at wilmtang/vscode-leetcode. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or published by LeetCode. The original project's MIT license and copyright notices are preserved in LICENSE, with additional fork attribution in NOTICE.md.

For Users: Install and Use

This repository has two installable pieces:

• VS Code extension: the LeetCode explorer, editor commands, test/submit flow, and local auth-sync listener.
• Browser extension: the companion browser plugin that reads your signed-in leetcode.com browser session and sends it to the local VS Code listener.

Install both pieces on the same machine.

1. Install LeetCode with Auth Sync from the VS Code Marketplace.
2. Install the companion browser extension from the public listing for your browser:
   • Firefox: LeetCode VS Code Auth Sync on Firefox Add-ons
   • Chrome: LeetCode VS Code Auth Sync on Chrome Web Store
3. Sign in to leetcode.com in that browser.
4. In VS Code, open the LeetCode side bar, click Sign In, and choose Auto Cookie Sync.
5. Click Sync now in the browser extension popup, or use LeetCode normally and wait for automatic sync.

When sync succeeds, the VS Code notification closes, the LeetCode side bar refreshes, and test/submit commands use the same LeetCode session as your browser.

If a browser store listing is not available for your browser yet, load browser-extension/ manually from a local checkout using the contributor steps below.

Auto Cookie Sync is only needed for leetcode.com. If you use leetcode.cn, or if web/manual login already works for your account, you can still use the existing Web Authorization or LeetCode Cookie login options.

User Controls

VS Code commands:

• LeetCode: Sign In
• LeetCode: Sign Out
• LeetCode: Show Browser Auth Sync Status
• LeetCode: Restart Browser Auth Sync Server
• LeetCode: Force Start Browser Auth Sync Server

Browser extension controls:

• Sync now: immediately sends the current leetcode.com cookie to VS Code.
• Enabled: turns browser-side sync on or off.
• Port: must match leetcode.authSync.port in VS Code. The default is 17899.
• Shared secret: optional. If set in VS Code, set the same value in the browser extension.
• Cooldown: controls how often automatic browser sync can run after a successful sync. Manual Sync now ignores the cooldown.

How Browser Auth Sync Works

The browser extension does not log in to LeetCode by itself. Instead, it copies the already-signed-in browser session into the VS Code extension over a loopback-only HTTP endpoint.

flowchart LR
    A["You sign in on leetcode.com"] --> B["Browser extension reads LeetCode cookies"]
    B --> C["POST http://127.0.0.1:17899/auth/update"]
    C --> D["VS Code extension auth-sync server"]
    D --> E["Existing cookie login path"]
    E --> F["VS Code global state"]
    E --> G["Bundled vsc-leetcode-cli session/cache"]
    F --> H["LeetCode explorer refreshes"]
    G --> I["Test and submit use the synced session"]

Loading

Important details:

• The VS Code extension listens on 127.0.0.1 only, not on your network interface. Default endpoint: POST http://127.0.0.1:17899/auth/update.
• The health endpoint is GET http://127.0.0.1:17899/health.
• If several VS Code windows are open, only one owns the listener. Other windows observe the shared owner state and can take over after the owner heartbeat becomes stale.
• The browser extension reads leetcode.com cookies and sends a LeetCode Cookie header to the local listener.
• Automatic sync observes only LeetCode XHR/fetch requests and waits for the configured cooldown after a successful automatic sync.
• Manual Sync now from the popup or options page bypasses the cooldown.
• Cookie values are sent only to the local VS Code listener and are not intentionally logged by either extension.
• If leetcode.authSync.secret is set, the browser extension must send the same value in the X-LeetCode-AuthSync-Secret header.

For Contributors: Test Locally

Install dependencies first:

npm ci --replace-registry-host=always

Test the VS Code Extension

Run the extension in a VS Code Extension Development Host:

npm run auth-sync:dev:vscode

That compiles TypeScript, opens a new VS Code window with this checkout as the extension under development, and starts the auth-sync listener after activation.

Useful contributor commands in the development host:

• LeetCode: Show Browser Auth Sync Status
• LeetCode: Restart Browser Auth Sync Server
• LeetCode: Force Start Browser Auth Sync Server

To test a packaged local install instead of an Extension Development Host:

npm run auth-sync:install:vscode

This builds dist/vscode-leetcode-auth-sync.vsix, uninstalls the old stock/local extension IDs if present, installs the VSIX with the code CLI, and asks you to reload VS Code.

Reload the VS Code Extension While Developing

After changing TypeScript:

1. Recompile with npm run compile, or keep npm run watch running in another terminal.
2. In the Extension Development Host, run Developer: Reload Window.

If you used npm run auth-sync:install:vscode, rerun that install command after code changes, then reload the normal VS Code window with Developer: Reload Window.

If only auth-sync settings changed, use LeetCode: Restart Browser Auth Sync Server or change the setting and let the extension restart the listener.

Test the Browser Extension

Start Chrome or Chromium with the unpacked browser extension and a disposable profile:

npm run auth-sync:dev:chrome

To test against your current Chrome user-data directory:

npm run auth-sync:dev:chrome:current

Quit Chrome first when using the current-profile script. If Chrome is already running, it can ignore the --load-extension flag.

Manual Chrome load:

1. Open chrome://extensions.
2. Enable Developer mode.
3. Click Load unpacked.
4. Select the browser-extension/ folder.

Manual Firefox load:

1. Open about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox.
2. Click Load Temporary Add-on.
3. Select browser-extension/manifest.json.

Chrome uses the MV3 background.service_worker entry from browser-extension/manifest.json. Firefox uses the background.scripts entry from the same manifest.

Reload the Browser Extension While Developing

Chrome:

1. Open chrome://extensions.
2. Find LeetCode VS Code Auth Sync.
3. Click the reload button on the extension card.
4. Reopen the popup or options page before testing UI changes.

Firefox:

1. Open about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox.
2. Find LeetCode VS Code Auth Sync.
3. Click Reload.
4. Reopen the popup or options page before testing UI changes.

Reload the browser extension after changes to browser-extension/background.js, manifest.json, popup.*, options.*, or icons.

End-to-End Local Test

1. Start VS Code locally with npm run auth-sync:dev:vscode.
2. Start the browser extension with npm run auth-sync:dev:chrome, or load it manually.
3. Sign in to https://leetcode.com in that browser profile.
4. In VS Code, choose LeetCode: Sign In, then Auto Cookie Sync.
5. In the browser extension popup, click Sync now.
6. Confirm the VS Code waiting notification closes and the LeetCode explorer refreshes as signed in.
7. Run a problem test or submit command to confirm the bundled CLI session was updated.

You can also smoke-test the local listener:

curl -i http://127.0.0.1:17899/health

For the full local workflow and troubleshooting notes, see docs/auth-sync-local-testing.md.

Contributor Scripts

npm run compile
npm run watch
npm run lint
npm run auth-sync:dev:vscode
npm run auth-sync:install:vscode
npm run auth-sync:dev:chrome
npm run auth-sync:dev:chrome:current
npm run auth-sync:paths
npm run auth-sync:icons
npm run auth-sync:lint:firefox
npm run auth-sync:build:firefox
npm run auth-sync:build:chrome

Maintainer Publishing

The VS Code extension and browser extension use separate release lanes.

VS Code Marketplace releases are handled by .github/workflows/vscode-extension.yml and use vscode-extension-v* tags:

git tag vscode-extension-v0.18.8
git push origin vscode-extension-v0.18.8

The workflow verifies that the tag matches package.json. Add VSCE_PAT to the vscode-marketplace GitHub Actions environment; the token must be an Azure DevOps Personal Access Token with Marketplace Manage scope for the publisher in package.json. See docs/vscode-marketplace-publishing.md.

Browser extension releases use browser-extension-v* tags for both Firefox and Chrome:

git tag browser-extension-v0.1.3
git push origin browser-extension-v0.1.3

Firefox publication is handled by .github/workflows/firefox-extension.yml. It uses web-ext and needs AMO_JWT_ISSUER and AMO_JWT_SECRET in the firefox-addons environment.

Chrome publication is handled by .github/workflows/chrome-extension.yml. Build the Chrome ZIP locally with npm run auth-sync:build:chrome. The workflow needs CHROME_WEBSTORE_CLIENT_ID, CHROME_WEBSTORE_CLIENT_SECRET, CHROME_WEBSTORE_REFRESH_TOKEN, CHROME_WEBSTORE_PUBLISHER_ID, and CHROME_WEBSTORE_EXTENSION_ID in the chrome-web-store environment.

Requirements

• VS Code 1.57.0+
• Node.js 10+

  NOTE: Please make sure that Node is in your PATH environment variable. You can also use the setting leetcode.nodePath to specify the location of your Node.js executable.

Quick Start

Features

Sign In/Out

• Simply click Sign in to LeetCode in the LeetCode Explorer will let you sign in with your LeetCode account.

• You can also use the following command to sign in/out:

  • LeetCode: Sign in
  • LeetCode: Sign out

---

Switch Endpoint

• By clicking the button at the explorer's navigation bar, you can switch between different endpoints.

• The supported endpoints are:

  • leetcode.com
  • leetcode.cn

  Note: The accounts of different endpoints are not shared. Please make sure you are using the right endpoint. The extension will use leetcode.com by default.

---

Pick a Problem

• Directly click on the problem or right click the problem in the LeetCode Explorer and select Preview Problem to see the problem description.

• Select Show Problem to directly open the file with the problem description.

  Note：You can specify the path of the workspace folder to store the problem files by updating the setting leetcode.workspaceFolder. The default value is：$HOME/.leetcode/.

  You can specify whether including the problem description in comments or not by updating the setting leetcode.showCommentDescription.

  You can switch the default language by triggering the command: LeetCode: Switch Default Language.

---

Editor Shortcuts

• The extension supports 5 editor shortcuts (aka Code Lens):

  • Submit: Submit your answer to LeetCode.
  • Test: Test your answer with customized test cases.
  • Star/Unstar: Star or unstar the current problem.
  • Solution: Show the top voted solution for the current problem.
  • Description: Show the problem description page.

  Note: You can customize the shortcuts using the setting: leetcode.editor.shortcuts. By default, only Submit and Test shortcuts are enabled.

---

Search problems by Keywords

• By clicking the button at the explorer's navigation bar, you can search the problems by keywords.

---

Manage Session

• To manage your LeetCode sessions, just clicking the LeetCode: *** at the bottom of the status bar. You can switch between sessions or create, delete a session.

Settings

Setting Name	Description	Default Value
leetcode.hideSolved	Specify to hide the solved problems or not	false
leetcode.defaultLanguage	Specify the default language used to solve the problem. Supported languages are: bash, c, cpp, csharp, golang, java, javascript, kotlin, mysql, php, python,python3,ruby,rust, scala, swift, typescript	N/A
leetcode.useWsl	Specify whether to use WSL or not	false
leetcode.endpoint	Specify the active endpoint. Supported endpoints are: leetcode, leetcode-cn	leetcode
leetcode.workspaceFolder	Specify the path of the workspace folder to store the problem files.	""
leetcode.filePath	Specify the relative path under the workspace and the file name to save the problem files. More details can be found here.
leetcode.enableStatusBar	Specify whether the LeetCode status bar will be shown or not.	true
leetcode.editor.shortcuts	Specify the customized shortcuts in editors. Supported values are: submit, test, star, solution and description.	["submit, test"]
leetcode.enableSideMode	Specify whether preview, solution and submission tab should be grouped into the second editor column when solving a problem.	true
leetcode.nodePath	Specify the Node.js executable path. for example, C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe	node
leetcode.showCommentDescription	Specify whether to include the problem description in the comments	false
leetcode.useEndpointTranslation	Use endpoint's translation (if available)	true
leetcode.colorizeProblems	Add difficulty badge and colorize problems files in explorer tree	true
leetcode.problems.sortStrategy	Specify sorting strategy for problems list	None
leetcode.allowReportData	Opt in to anonymous usage telemetry for this unofficial fork. Telemetry is disabled by default.	false
leetcode.authSync.enabled	Enable the local browser auth sync server on 127.0.0.1.	true
leetcode.authSync.port	Local port used by the browser auth sync server. The browser extension must use the same port.	17899
leetcode.authSync.ownerHeartbeatIntervalSeconds	How often the VS Code window that owns the browser auth sync listener writes its heartbeat.	30
leetcode.authSync.observerCheckIntervalSeconds	How often observer windows check shared auth sync ownership state.	60
leetcode.authSync.ownerStaleAfterSeconds	How long an owner heartbeat can be missing before another VS Code window may take over.	120
leetcode.authSync.secret	Optional shared secret for browser auth sync. If set, the browser extension must send the same secret.	""

Want Help?

When you meet any problem, you can check out the Troubleshooting and FAQ first.

If your problem still cannot be addressed, please file an issue.

Release Notes

Refer to CHANGELOG

Acknowledgement

• This extension is based on @skygragon's leetcode-cli open source project.
• Special thanks to our contributors.