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govern-apis-vscode-extension.md

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title Govern APIs - Visual Studio Code Extension
description API developers can use the Azure API Center extension for Visual Studio Code to govern their organization's APIs.
ms.service azure-api-center
ms.topic how-to
ms.date 02/19/2026
ms.custom
sfi-image-nochange

Govern APIs with the Azure API Center extension for Visual Studio Code

To maximize success of your API governance efforts, it's critical to shift-left governance early into the API development cycle. This approach allows API developers to create APIs correctly from the beginning, saving them from wasted development effort and mitigating noncompliant APIs later in the development process.

The Azure API Center extension for Visual Studio Code includes the following governance capabilities for API developers:

  • Evaluating API designs against API style guides as the API is developed in Visual Studio Code.
  • Early detection of breaking changes so APIs remain reliable and function as expected, preserving the trust of end-users and stakeholders.

API developers can also take advantage of features in the extension to register APIs in the API center and discover and consume APIs.

[!INCLUDE vscode-extension-basic-prerequisites]

[!INCLUDE vscode-extension-setup]

API design conformance

To ensure design conformance with organizational standards as you build APIs, the Azure API Center extension for Visual Studio Code provides integrated support for API specification linting with Spectral.

  1. Use the Ctrl+Shift+P keyboard shortcut to open the Command Palette. Type Azure API Center: Set active API Style Guide followed by the Enter key.

  2. Select one of the default rules provided. If your organization has a style guide already available, select the Select Local File or Input Remote URL option and specify the active ruleset in Visual Studio Code. Select Enter.

After an active API style guide is set, opening any OpenAPI or AsyncAPI-based specification file triggers a local linting operation in Visual Studio Code. Results are displayed both inline in the editor and in the Problems window (View > Problems or Ctrl+Shift+M).

:::image type="content" source="media/govern-apis-vscode-extension/local-linting.png" alt-text="Screenshot of local-linting in Visual Studio Code." lightbox="media/govern-apis-vscode-extension/local-linting.png":::

Breaking change detection

When introducing new versions of your API, it's important to ensure that changes introduced don't break API consumers on previous versions of your API. The Azure API Center extension for Visual Studio Code makes this task easy with breaking change detection for OpenAPI specification documents powered by Optic.

  1. Use the Ctrl+Shift+P keyboard shortcut to open the Command Palette. Type Azure API Center: Detect Breaking Change followed by the Enter key.

  2. Select the first API specification document to compare. Valid options include API specifications found in your API center, a local file, or the active editor in Visual Studio Code.

  3. Select the second API specification document to compare. Valid options include API specifications found in your API center, a local file, or the active editor in Visual Studio Code.

Visual Studio Code opens a diff view between the two API specifications. Any breaking changes are displayed both inline in the editor and in the Problems window (View > Problems or Ctrl+Shift+M).

:::image type="content" source="media/govern-apis-vscode-extension/breaking-changes.png" alt-text="Screenshot of breaking changes detected in Visual Studio Code." lightbox="media/govern-apis-vscode-extension/breaking-changes.png":::

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