# How I Wrote My First VSCode Extension to Bring Emacs Keybindings to My Workflow

## Why Emacs Keybindings?

I've always preferred **Emacs-style editing**, especially the way it handles cursor movement and text manipulation. Even though I have switched to using VSCode for most of my development work, I often found myself missing the intuitive keybindings from Emacs.

Initially, I tried manually configuring my keybindings in VSCode, but this became tedious. Every time I reinstalled VSCode or set up a new machine, I had to manually copy over my settings or sync them using vscode settings sync feature. This led me to think: **what if I packaged my keybindings into a VSCode extension?**

## The Idea: Automating My Keybinding Setup

Rather than relying on syncing my settings, I decided to create a **self-contained VSCode extension** that would automatically apply my preferred Emacs-like shortcuts. This way, I could install it on any machine with a single command, and it would just work.

## Building the Extension

### Setting Up the Project

To create a VSCode extension, I used the official Yeoman generator:

```sh
npx yo code
```

This guided me through setting up a basic extension. Since my extension was just about keybindings, I didn’t need to write any actual JavaScript or TypeScript code—just modifying the `package.json` file was enough.

### Defining Keybindings

In `package.json`, I added my custom keybindings under the `contributes.keybindings` section. Here’s an example of what it looked like:

```json
"contributes": {
  "keybindings": [
    {
      "key": "ctrl+a",
      "command": "cursorHome",
      "when": "editorTextFocus"
    },
    {
      "key": "ctrl+e",
      "command": "cursorEnd",
      "when": "editorTextFocus"
    }
  ]
}
```

This mapped `Ctrl+A` to `cursorHome` (move cursor to the beginning of a line) and `Ctrl+E` to `cursorEnd` (move cursor to the end of a line), mimicking Emacs behavior.

## Why This Was Worth It

Now, instead of manually managing keybindings across machines, I can just search for my extension on VSCode and install it.

This has **saved me time** and made my VSCode setup much more portable. Plus, since it’s on the marketplace, **other Emacs users can benefit from it too!**

## What’s Next?

Publishing my first VSCode extension was easier than I expected, despite the initial hurdles. Now, I’m thinking about:

* **Exploring more about VSCode extension development** and seeing what other customizations I can make.
    
* **Exploring the possibility of building different extensions** to further customize my VSCode workflow.
    

If you're interested in customizing your VSCode experience, I highly recommend trying to write your own extension—it's simpler than you might think!

## Get the Extension

You can find my extension on the VSCode Marketplace. Let me know if you find it useful!

[https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=bhanuka.bmax-emacs](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=bhanuka.bmax-emacs)