Add dashboard browser setting for VS Code extension by adamint · Pull Request #14684 · microsoft/aspire

adamint · 2026-02-25T17:25:18Z

Description

Adds two new VS Code extension settings to control which browser opens the Aspire dashboard during debugging and whether to automatically close it when debugging ends. Fixes #12910

New Settings

aspire.dashboardBrowser: Choose which browser to use when auto-launching the Aspire dashboard:
- openExternalBrowser (default) — Opens in the system's default browser via vscode.env.openExternal
- debugChrome — Opens in a Chrome debug session (uses pwa-chrome)
- debugEdge — Opens in an Edge debug session (uses pwa-msedge)
- debugFirefox — Opens in a Firefox debug session (requires the Firefox Debugger extension)
aspire.closeDashboardOnDebugEnd (default: true): Automatically close the dashboard browser tab when the Aspire debug session ends. Works with the debug browser options (Chrome, Edge, Firefox), which are launched as child debug sessions that close when the parent session stops.

Implementation Details

Dashboard lifecycle management (open/close) is consolidated in AspireDebugSession
Debug browser sessions use parentSession to bind their lifecycle to the Aspire debug session
All new user-facing strings are localized

Checklist

Is this feature complete?
- Yes. Ready to ship.
Are you including unit tests for the changes and scenario tests if relevant?
- No — These are VS Code extension settings and debug session orchestration that can't be meaningfully unit tested without real VS Code APIs. Existing interaction service tests continue to pass.
Did you add public API?
- No
Does the change make any security assumptions or guarantees?
- No
Does the change require an update in our Aspire docs?
- Yes
  - Link to aspire.dev issue:
    - New issue
- No

github-actions · 2026-02-25T17:25:27Z

🚀 Dogfood this PR with:

⚠️ WARNING: Do not do this without first carefully reviewing the code of this PR to satisfy yourself it is safe.

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dotnet/aspire/main/eng/scripts/get-aspire-cli-pr.sh | bash -s -- 14684

Or

Run remotely in PowerShell:

iex "& { $(irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dotnet/aspire/main/eng/scripts/get-aspire-cli-pr.ps1) } 14684"

Copilot

Pull request overview

This pull request adds VS Code extension settings to control which browser opens the Aspire dashboard during debugging and whether to automatically close it when debugging ends. The implementation consolidates dashboard lifecycle management in AspireDebugSession and uses VS Code's debug session parent-child relationships to enable auto-closing for browser debug sessions.

Changes:

Added aspire.dashboardBrowser setting with options for external browser (default), Chrome, Edge, or Firefox debug sessions
Added aspire.closeDashboardOnDebugEnd setting (default: true) to automatically close debug browser tabs when debugging stops
Moved dashboard opening logic from vscode.env.openExternal to AspireDebugSession.openDashboard() method
Added localization strings for new settings and dashboard name
Included unrelated schema refactoring (flattening experimentalPolyglot settings and removing internal staging overrides)

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 8 out of 8 changed files in this pull request and generated 8 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
extension/package.json	Defines two new VS Code settings: `dashboardBrowser` (enum) and `closeDashboardOnDebugEnd` (boolean)
extension/package.nls.json	Adds localized descriptions for the new settings and their enum values
extension/loc/xlf/aspire-vscode.xlf	Contains localization strings for the new settings
extension/src/loc/strings.ts	Exports new `aspireDashboard` localized string used as debug session name
extension/src/debugger/AspireDebugSession.ts	Implements `openDashboard()` and `closeDashboard()` methods with support for launching browsers as child debug sessions
extension/src/server/interactionService.ts	Updates dashboard auto-launch to use new browser type setting; adds no-op `closeDashboard()` interface method
extension/schemas/aspire-settings.schema.json	Flattens experimentalPolyglot properties and removes internal staging override settings (unrelated to dashboard feature)
extension/schemas/aspire-global-settings.schema.json	Same schema changes as aspire-settings.schema.json for global settings

extension/src/debugger/AspireDebugSession.ts

extension/src/server/interactionService.ts

extension/src/debugger/AspireDebugSession.ts

extension/schemas/aspire-settings.schema.json

extension/src/server/interactionService.ts

Copilot · 2026-02-25T17:31:44Z

extension/src/debugger/AspireDebugSession.ts

+
+export type DashboardBrowserType = 'openExternalBrowser' | 'debugChrome' | 'debugEdge' | 'debugFirefox';
 import AspireDcpServer, { generateDcpIdPrefix } from "../dcp/AspireDcpServer";


The export statement for DashboardBrowserType is placed between import statements. By convention, all import statements should be grouped together at the top of the file, followed by type definitions and other exports. Consider moving the export type declaration after all imports (after line 19) for better code organization and consistency with typical TypeScript/JavaScript conventions.

extension/src/debugger/AspireDebugSession.ts

Add settings to control which browser opens the Aspire dashboard during debugging and whether to close it when debugging ends: - aspire.dashboardBrowser: Choose between opening in default external browser (default), Chrome debug session, Edge debug session, or Firefox debug session - aspire.closeDashboardOnDebugEnd: Automatically close the dashboard browser tab when debugging ends (works with debug browser options) Debug browser sessions are launched as child sessions of the Aspire debug session, so they automatically close when the parent session ends. Dashboard lifecycle management is consolidated in AspireDebugSession.

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

extension/schemas/aspire-global-settings.schema.json

eerhardt · 2026-03-02T18:27:42Z

extension/src/debugger/AspireDebugSession.ts


+  /**
+   * Opens the dashboard URL in the specified browser.
+   * For debugChrome/debugEdge/debugFirefox, launches as a child debug session that auto-closes with the Aspire debug session.


This is probably a dumb question, but why would a user want to debug the dashboard?

It ties the lifetime of the dashboard window to the Aspire debug session by opening a controlled browser window. It's what VS does with the aspire dashboard

Does the user have to configure something themselves to get this to work? In VS it just happens AFAICT

Currently yes because the default is to open the external browser. I could change the default to debugChrome? But we don't know that Chrome is installed. What do you think

What does VS do?

Actually, dev kit has the same behavior we do (launching the external browser). I think we should keep that approach

IEvangelist

Also, we should really clean up all the imports. Ideally (even though it's documented in the VS Code extensions docs), imports should only ever import a named export, never * as {blah}, while it can be noisier it's far more performant.

IEvangelist · 2026-03-02T18:54:56Z

extension/src/debugger/AspireDebugSession.ts

+    const aspireConfig = vscode.workspace.getConfiguration('aspire');
+    const shouldClose = aspireConfig.get<boolean>('closeDashboardOnDebugEnd', true);


In VS Code extensions I've written, I always end up creating a config class that reads the config and exposes property values the class as a service. Then you simply import the config class (and it implicitly reads from keys) - eliminating duplicated hardcoded strings throughout the code. This is an abstraction I'd strongly recommend.

That's a good idea! I will follow this up with a clean up

* Add dashboard browser setting for VS Code extension Add settings to control which browser opens the Aspire dashboard during debugging and whether to close it when debugging ends: - aspire.dashboardBrowser: Choose between opening in default external browser (default), Chrome debug session, Edge debug session, or Firefox debug session - aspire.closeDashboardOnDebugEnd: Automatically close the dashboard browser tab when debugging ends (works with debug browser options) Debug browser sessions are launched as child sessions of the Aspire debug session, so they automatically close when the parent session ends. Dashboard lifecycle management is consolidated in AspireDebugSession. * Update extension/src/debugger/AspireDebugSession.ts Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> * Update extension/src/debugger/AspireDebugSession.ts Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> * Update extension/src/server/interactionService.ts Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> * Update extension/src/debugger/AspireDebugSession.ts Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> * Revert auto-generated schema changes * Move DashboardBrowserType export after all imports --------- Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings February 25, 2026 17:25

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of adamint February 25, 2026 17:25 View session

adamint requested review from IEvangelist, eerhardt and mitchdenny February 25, 2026 17:29

adamint self-assigned this Feb 25, 2026

Copilot AI reviewed Feb 25, 2026

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github-actions bot mentioned this pull request Feb 25, 2026

[pull requests] Review required #13834

Open

adamint changed the base branch from main to release/13.2 March 2, 2026 17:37

adamint requested review from radical and sebastienros as code owners March 2, 2026 17:37

adamint force-pushed the dev/adamint/dashboard-browser-setting branch from d12bf1a to 1076d66 Compare March 2, 2026 17:41

adamint and others added 4 commits March 2, 2026 12:43

Update extension/src/debugger/AspireDebugSession.ts

e857065

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Update extension/src/debugger/AspireDebugSession.ts

7fa2922

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Update extension/src/server/interactionService.ts

817e561

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Update extension/src/debugger/AspireDebugSession.ts

547ded9

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

adamint commented Mar 2, 2026

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extension/schemas/aspire-global-settings.schema.json Outdated Show resolved Hide resolved

eerhardt reviewed Mar 2, 2026

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adamint added 2 commits March 2, 2026 13:33

Revert auto-generated schema changes

40a9d76

Move DashboardBrowserType export after all imports

41df6e7

IEvangelist reviewed Mar 2, 2026

View reviewed changes

Merge branch 'release/13.2' into dev/adamint/dashboard-browser-setting

e259c63

eerhardt approved these changes Mar 3, 2026

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adamint merged commit a8eed2d into microsoft:release/13.2 Mar 4, 2026
384 checks passed

dotnet-policy-service bot added this to the 13.2 milestone Mar 4, 2026

github-actions bot mentioned this pull request Mar 4, 2026

[13.2-burndown] Daily Burndown Report - March 4, 2026 #14940

Closed


		export type DashboardBrowserType = 'openExternalBrowser' \| 'debugChrome' \| 'debugEdge' \| 'debugFirefox';
		import AspireDcpServer, { generateDcpIdPrefix } from "../dcp/AspireDcpServer";

		const aspireConfig = vscode.workspace.getConfiguration('aspire');
		const shouldClose = aspireConfig.get<boolean>('closeDashboardOnDebugEnd', true);

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adamint commented Feb 25, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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Description

New Settings

Implementation Details

Checklist

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