Visual Studio Code Intellisense not working for Javascript

Question

I am using Visual Studio Code (VSC) 0.10.11 on Windows and Mac. For the purpose of this question I have this small JavaScript snippet:

'use strict';

const os = require('os');
console.log(os.homedir());

I followed John Papa on Visual Studio Code (Blog entry and Pluralsight Visual Studio Code JavaScript Intellisense - for those who have an account) and therefore I would expect that VSC provides Intellisense and Quick fix options when typings are available.

In the snippet above VSC recognizes console and log() (I use hoover, but it is the same with Intellisense):

but not os and homedir():

But all 4 typings are available in typings/main/ambient/node/index.d.ts. I know that the difference is the require in the case of os, but in John Papa's video course VSC also provided IntelliSense for required modules. A difference is that John Papa used tsd while I am using typings.

So my questions are

how can I enable Intellisense for all known typings?
what do I have to do that VSC offers me Quick fix (green line under moduls with missing typings)?

Dauren Akilbekov · Accepted Answer · 2016-12-20T07:20:38.197

40

The above links are outdated. In older versions of VS Code you needed to reference your typings like /// <reference path> for somelibrary.d.ts.

With new version you need to initialize your project by creating jsconfig.json at the root of your project and add the following inside:

{
    "compilerOptions": {
        "target": "es5",
        "module": "commonjs"
    },
    "exclude": [
      "node_modules"
    ]
}

Next install typing you need. You can use either tsd or typings. In your case you need to install tsd install node or typings install node --ambient. Make sure you have typings/tsd installed. Restart project.

Please refer to docs:

Setup JS project - https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/languages/javascript
Node.js - https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/runtimes/nodejs
Debugging - https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/debugging

Update:

Since version 1.7 there is no need to manually install typings, they should be downloaded automatically. Better JavaScript IntelliSense

edited Dec 20 '16 at 07:20

answered Mar 26 '16 at 12:55

Dauren Akilbekov

4,627
2
27
32

3

With a proper `jsconfig.json` IntelliSense is working. However, when you read the documentation at your first link it should be the default behavior, even when no `jsconfig.json´ is available: *Note: If you do not have a jsconfig.json in your workspace, VS Code will by default exclude the node_modules folder and the folder defined by the out attribute.* + *IntelliSense is automatically provided for CommonJS and AMD modules inside your project folders.* So I think it is just a bug that it isn't working without the config file. Anyway, now it works. Thanks for your answer! – ChrLipp Mar 27 '16 at 09:00
4

https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/ They've changed this behavior for jsconfig.json. > If you do not have a jsconfig.json in your workspace then the following defaults are used: the exclude list includes the node_modules folder and the folder defined by the out attribute. Be aware that if you have no jsconfig.json defined to mark the root of your project, then each JavaScript file is considered an island by Salsa. Without a jsconfig.json file, cross-file and Typings file IntelliSense will not work. – Dauren Akilbekov Mar 27 '16 at 09:57
3

I think this is downside of using beta software, things change rapidly. – Dauren Akilbekov Mar 27 '16 at 10:00
Did you solve your problem? Could you share more info. – Dauren Akilbekov Jul 09 '18 at 11:09

score 14 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 24 '20 at 04:59

14

There is a built-in extension called TypeScript and JavaScript Language Features (vscode.typescript-language-features) that is disabled.

In order to enable it, open Extensions panel, search for "@built-in JavaScript", and enable the required extension.

Now you should be able to use the autocomplete feature.

answered Sep 24 '20 at 04:59

underfox

149
1
4

3

This is now "@builtin Javascript". There's instruction in Flow extension to disable builtin language features and you might forgot turn it back on after uninstalling it. – willnode Mar 04 '22 at 10:10

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 10 '21 at 18:16

I experienced this on global "process" object. Vscode enabled intellisense for process object, only if I add any "require" statements to the file.

So if there is not any other require statements, you can add

const process = require('process');

in the beginning of your script to get intellisense.

score -1 · Answer 4 · answered May 13 '20 at 12:23

Well, after 4 hr's googling finally, I decided to uninstall nodejs, npm, and typescript then install all of them again. The previous time I installed them using nvm but this time I decided not to use nvm just install them from node source since I am using Ubuntu I executed bellow commands, for windows or mac just install them without any package or version manager.

curl https://deb.nodesource.com/gpgkey/nodesource.gpg.key | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt-add-repository "deb https://deb.nodesource.com/node_7.x $(lsb_release -sc) main"
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nodejs

above command installed both nodejs and npm, after then to install typescript I ran bellow command

sudo npm install --global typescript

I updated my VSCode to the newest version.

Then in the bottom right of my VSCode I clicked on javascript to change the language mode, I wrote 'type' on the search bar and select typescript as my new selected language mode...........BINGO

Visual Studio Code Intellisense not working for Javascript

4 Answers4

Linked