Get Plug.Debugger to render vscode file links that open to WSL distro

The Plug.Debugger docs describe setting the PLUG_EDITOR environment variable to generate links to your text editor.

Unfortunately the example given, vscode://file/__FILE__:__LINE__, won’t work when the development environment is structured as:

1. Windows host browser, as tested in Chromium-based Edge and Opera GX, and Firefox
2. Windows VSCode with Visual Studio Code Remote - WSL extension
3. Files in WSL distro

The VSCode docs Developing in WSL show how to force open a file from the windows command prompt
code --file-uri vscode-remote://wsl+Ubuntu/home/ubuntu/fileWithoutExtension but the browser complains that vscode-remote:// is not a registered protocol.

What does work is the format suggested in Issue #108257 · microsoft/vscode, exporting the envar before starting the dev server in either the integrated terminal or your favourite external terminal.

export PLUG_EDITOR=vscode://vscode-remote/wsl+[DISTRO]__FILE__:__LINE__
iex -S mix phx.server

Replace [DISTRO] with your distro’s name, e.g. wsl+Ubuntu, and note there is no / between it and __FILE__

Happy debugging

vscode wsl link762×515 21 KB