File bugs and feature requests [here](https://github.com/OmniSharp/omnisharp-vscode/issues) and [join our insiders group](http://landinghub.visualstudio.com/dotnetcoreinsiders) to help us build great tooling for .NET Core.
Open the command palette in VS Code (press <kbd>F1</kbd>) and type `ext install C#` to trigger the installation of the extension. VS Code will show a message that the extension has been installed and it will restart.
If you have previously installed the C# extension, make sure that you have a recent version. You can check this by opening the command palette (press <kbd>F1</kbd>) and running `Extensions: Show Installed Extensions`.
##### 4: Wait for download of platform-specific files
The first time that C# code is opened in VS Code, the extension will download the platform-specific files needed for debugging and editing. Debugging and editor features will not work until these steps finish.
You can start from scratch by creating an empty project with `dotnet new`. Begin by opening the terminal in Visual Studio Code (`View->Integrated Terminal`) and type these commands:
If you want a web project (ASP.NET project) use `dotnet new web`. For web projects, makes sure to run `bower install` before running so that they can restore assets.
Go to `File->Open Folder` and open the directory in Visual Studio Code. If this is the first time that the C# extension has been activated, it will now download additional platform-specific dependencies.
VS Code needs to be configured so it understands how to build your project and debug it. For this there are two files which need to be added -- `.vscode/tasks.json` and `.vscode/launch.json`.
* Tasks.json is used to configure what command line command is executed to build your project, and launch.json configures the type of debugger you want to use, and what program should be run under that debugger.
* Launch.json configures VS Code to run the build task from tasks.json so that your program is automatically up-to-date each time you go to debug it.
If you open the folder containing your project.json, the C# extension can automatically generate these files for you if you have a basic project. When you open a project and the C# extension is installed, you should see the following prompt in VS Code:
**.vscode/tasks.json**: Start with [this example](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wiki/OmniSharp/omnisharp-vscode/ExampleCode/tasks.json) which configures VS Code to launch `dotnet build`. Update the `cwd` property if your project isn't in the root of the open folder. If you don't want to build from VS Code at all, you can skip this file. If you do this, you will need to comment out the `preLaunchTask` from .vscode/launch.json when you create it.
**.vscode/launch.json**: When you want to start debugging, press the debugger play button (or press <kbd>F5</kbd>) as you would normally do. VS Code will provide a list of templates to select from. Pick ".NET Core" from this list and the edit the `program` property to indicate the path to the application dll or .NET Core host executable to launch. For example:
* **Source Maps**: Unless your local source code is at exactly the same path as where the code was originally built you will need to add a [sourceFileMap](https://github.com/OmniSharp/omnisharp-vscode/blob/master/debugger-launchjson.md#source-file-map) to launch.json.
* **Portable PDBs**: If the code was built on Windows, it might have been built using Windows PDBs instead of portable PDBs, but the C# extension only supports portable PDBs. See the [portable PDB documentation](https://github.com/OmniSharp/omnisharp-vscode/wiki/Portable-PDBs#how-to-generate-portable-pdbs) for more information.
* **Debug vs. Release**: It is much easier to debug code which has been compiled in the `Debug` configuration. So unless the issue you are looking at only reproduces with optimizations, it is much better to use Debug bits. If you do need to debug optimized code, you will need to disable [justMyCode](https://github.com/OmniSharp/omnisharp-vscode/blob/master/debugger-launchjson.md#just-my-code) in launch.json.
Select the '.NET Core Attach' configuration. Clicking the play button (or pressing <kbd>F5</kbd>) will then try to attach. In launch.json, if `processId` is set to `"${command:pickProcess}"` this will provide UI to select which process to attach to.
The debugger supports remotely launching or attaching to processes. See [Attaching to remote processes](https://github.com/OmniSharp/omnisharp-vscode/wiki/Attaching-to-remote-processes) in the wiki for more information.
