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Configuring includePath for better IntelliSense results
This page describes how to configure include paths for folders containing C or C++ files to get the full IntelliSense experience. If you're seeing the following message when opening a folder in VS Code, it means the C++ IntelliSense engine needs additional information about the paths in which your symbols are located.
Where are the include paths defined?
The include paths are defined in the "includePath" setting in a file called c_cpp_properties.json located in the .vscode directory in the opened folder.
You can create or open this file by either using the "C/Cpp: Edit Configurations" command in the command palette, or by selecting "Edit "includePath" setting" in the lightbulb menu (see the screenshot below). The quickiest way to locate the lightbulb is to scroll to the top of the source file and click on any green squiggle, which usually shows up at the first line in the file.
When a folder is opened, the extension will attempt to locate your system headers based on your operating system, but it does not know about any auxiliary libraries that your project depends on. You can hover over the green squiggles or open the Problems window to understand which headers the IntelliSense engine is unable to open.
How to specify the include paths?
You can specify the remaining paths using one of the techniques described below.
1. Use the lightbulb suggestions to auto-resolve includePath
The first thing to try is to leverage the lightbulb path suggestions lightbulb to auto-resolve the included file. When you open a folder, the extension will recursively search for potential include paths that match the header files your code is using based on the paths set by the "browse.path" setting in c_cpp_properties.json. Click on the green squiggles under #include statements and a lightbulb will appear and offer suggestions of paths that will allow IntelliSense to resolve the included file.
2. Use compile_commands.json file to supply includePaths and defines information
If your build system is able to produce a compile_commands.json file, which can be auto-generated by build systems such as CMake and Ninja, the extension can get the information for the "includePath" and "defines" from that. Set the "compileCommands" property to the full path to your compile_commands.json file and the extension will use that instead of the "includes" and "defines" properties for IntelliSense.
3. Manually add include paths
If none of the above fully resolve the paths, you could manually specify the paths to the headers that your project depends on to the c_cpp_properties.json file. Look for the section where your current configuration is defined (by default there's one configuration per OS, such as "Win32 or "Mac"), and add your paths in the "includePath" setting and defines in the "defines" setting. For example, the following screenshot shows a snippet of the file specifying path for the Mac configuration.
Verify the include paths are correctly resolved
There are two ways to verify that the include paths are correctly resolved:
- The green squiggles in the source file are no longer showing
- Error messages are cleared in the Problems window
This indicates that the IntelliSense engine has got the include paths resolved so you can start enjoying the full IntelliSense for your C or C++ code for the current translation unit. Note that you may still see errors on other files if they belong to a different translation unit that requires additional include paths to be configured.