Task Display & Interaction Settings

Table of Contents

1. workspaceTasks.tasks.sortingEnabled
2. workspaceTasks.task.singleClickAction
3. workspaceTasks.task.doubleClickAction
4. workspaceTasks.task.statusResetDelay
5. workspaceTasks.task.iconType
6. workspaceTasks.task.iconTypeCustom
7. workspaceTasks.task.actionBar
   1. Properties
8. workspaceTasks.recentTasks.maxItems
9. workspaceTasks.codeLens.enabled
10. workspaceTasks.codeLens.actionBar
    1. Properties
11. Related

---

workspaceTasks.tasks.sortingEnabled

v1.7.0: Added workspaceTasks.tasks.sortingEnabled setting to control whether tasks are sorted alphabetically or displayed in definition order.

Type:	boolean
Default:	true

Controls whether tasks are sorted alphabetically within their groups and type buckets. When enabled (the default), tasks are sorted alphabetically by label at every level of the tree. When disabled, tasks are displayed in the order they are defined in their source file (e.g. package.json, Makefile, Taskfile.yml) or discovered by the provider.

Disabling this setting is useful when the definition order carries semantic meaning — for example, a Makefile where the first target is the default build target, or a package.json script list that is kept in workflow order.

This setting affects task items only. Special groups such as Favorites, Recent Tasks, and Compound Tasks are always sorted by their own rules regardless of this setting.

Example — preserve definition order:

{
  "workspaceTasks.tasks.sortingEnabled": false
}

Example — alphabetical order (default):

{
  "workspaceTasks.tasks.sortingEnabled": true
}

---

workspaceTasks.task.singleClickAction

Type:	string
Default:	"open"
Options:	"run", "runWithArgs", "open", "none"

The action performed when a task item in the tree is single-clicked.

• run - Run the task immediately
• runWithArgs - Prompt for arguments and then run the task
• open - Open the source file that defines the task
• none - No action on single click

Example:

{
  "workspaceTasks.task.singleClickAction": "open"
}

---

workspaceTasks.task.doubleClickAction

Type:	string
Default:	"run"
Options:	"run", "runWithArgs", "open", "none"

The action performed when a task item in the tree is double-clicked.

• run - Run the task immediately
• runWithArgs - Prompt for arguments and then run the task
• open - Open the source file that defines the task
• none - No action on double click

Example:

{
  "workspaceTasks.task.doubleClickAction": "run"
}

---

workspaceTasks.task.statusResetDelay

Type:	number
Default:	500

The time in milliseconds to display a task’s completion status indicator (✔ or ✖) in the tree view before resetting it to the idle state. Set to 0 to keep the status until the next action.

Example:

{
  "workspaceTasks.task.statusResetDelay": 500
}

---

workspaceTasks.task.iconType

Type:	string
Default:	"type"
Options:	"type", "file", "gear", "run", "custom"

The icon style to display next to each task in the tree view.

• type - The task-type icon representing the technology (npm, gradle, etc.)
• file - The VS Code file icon for the task’s source file
• gear - A generic gear/settings icon
• run - A generic play/run icon
• custom - A user-defined icon (see workspaceTasks.task.iconTypeCustom)

Example:

{
  "workspaceTasks.task.iconType": "run"
}

---

workspaceTasks.task.iconTypeCustom

Type:	string
Default:	""

A custom icon to display for tasks when workspaceTasks.task.iconType is set to "custom". This can be:

• A ThemeIcon identifier in the format $(iconName)
• A relative path to a .png or .svg file within the workspace

Example — built-in ThemeIcon:

{
  "workspaceTasks.task.iconType": "custom",
  "workspaceTasks.task.iconTypeCustom": "$(rocket)"
}

Example — workspace file path:

{
  "workspaceTasks.task.iconType": "custom",
  "workspaceTasks.task.iconTypeCustom": ".vscode/icons/task-icon.svg"
}

---

workspaceTasks.task.actionBar

Type:	object
Default:	see below

{
  "run": true,
  "runWithArgs": true,
  "openFile": true,
  "favorite": true,
  "queue": true,
  "hide": false,
  "unhide": true
}

Controls which buttons are shown in the inline action bar for each task in the tree view.

The run and runWithArgs flags also control the editor title bar buttons that appear when a shell script or GitHub Actions workflow file is open in the editor. See Editor Title Bar Buttons for details.

Properties

• run - Run Task
• runWithArgs - Run Task with Arguments
• openFile - Open the task’s source file
• favorite - Add to / remove from Favorites
• queue - Add to a Compound Task
• hide - Hide the task
• unhide - Unhide the task

Example:

{
  "workspaceTasks.task.actionBar": {
    "run": true,
    "runWithArgs": false,
    "openFile": true,
    "favorite": true,
    "queue": false,
    "hide": false,
    "unhide": true
  }
}

---

workspaceTasks.recentTasks.maxItems

Type:	number
Default:	20
Minimum:	0

The maximum number of recently executed tasks to track and display in the Recent Tasks group. Setting this to 0 effectively disables recent-task tracking.

Example:

{
  "workspaceTasks.recentTasks.maxItems": 10
}

---

workspaceTasks.codeLens.enabled

Type:	boolean
Default:	true
Scope:	Window

When enabled, shows inline CodeLens action buttons directly above each task definition in its source file (e.g. package.json, Taskfile.yml, .github/workflows/*.yml).

The individual buttons shown in each CodeLens row are controlled by workspaceTasks.codeLens.actionBar. Set codeLens.enabled to false to remove all lenses entirely.

Example — disable CodeLens actions:

{
  "workspaceTasks.codeLens.enabled": false
}

---

workspaceTasks.codeLens.actionBar

Type:	object
Default:	see below

{
  "run": true,
  "runWithArgs": true,
  "favorite": true,
  "queue": true
}

Controls which buttons are shown in the inline codelens action bar for each task.

Properties

• run - Run Task
• runWithArgs - Run Task with Arguments
• favorite - Add to / remove from Favorites
• queue - Add to a Compound Task

Example:

{
  "workspaceTasks.codeLens.actionBar": {
    "run": true,
    "runWithArgs": false,
    "favorite": true,
    "queue": false
  }
}

---

Related

• Favorites
• Recent Tasks
• Hide Tasks
• Compound Tasks
• Inline CodeLens Actions