Exercism Helper

Browse, download, test, and submit Exercism exercises without leaving VS Code.

Features · Quick Start · Commands · Settings · Exercism

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Features

• Learning Progress Sync — Syncs your exercise status from Exercism API: completed, started, available, locked, and recommended next
• Sidebar Tree View — Browse all tracks and exercises with status icons in the Activity Bar
• Exercise Instructions — Preview READMEs with syntax-highlighted code in a Webview panel
• One-click Test Runner — Run exercism test directly from the sidebar
• Solution Submission — Submit solutions and auto-refresh progress
• Download Exercises — Browse the full exercise catalog, download with one click
• Layout Toggle — Swap reader/editor position (left/right) to match your preference
• Sort Exercises — Sort by learning path, reversed, easy-to-hard, or hard-to-easy
• AI-friendly — Copy instructions to clipboard or open as file for Copilot/@-referencing
• Theme-aware UI — Webview adapts to light, dark, and high-contrast themes

Status Icons

Icon	Status	Description
⭐	Recommended	Next exercise in your learning path
✅	Completed	Published or completed on Exercism
🔧	In Progress	Started but not yet completed
○	Available	Unlocked and ready to start
🔒	Locked	Complete prerequisites first

Quick Start

1. Install the Exercism CLI (v3.3.0+)
2. Configure your API token:

   exercism configure --token=<your-token>

   Get your token at exercism.org/settings/api_cli
3. Open the Exercism sidebar — click the Exercism icon in the Activity Bar
4. Click Configure if prompted, or exercises will load automatically
5. Click any exercise — code opens on one side, instructions on the other

Commands

Command	Description
Exercism: Configure	Set up CLI token with guided flow
Exercism: Download Exercise	Browse & download from full exercise catalog
Exercism: Run Tests	Run tests for current exercise
Exercism: Submit Solution	Submit solution to Exercism
Exercism: Toggle Reader Position	Swap reader/editor layout
Exercism: Toggle Sort Order	Cycle sort: path / reversed / easy / hard
Exercism: Open in Browser	Open exercise on exercism.org
Exercism: Refresh	Clear cache and refresh exercise list

Settings

Setting	Default	Description
exercism.workspacePath	""	Custom workspace path. Empty = auto-detect from CLI.
exercism.cliPath	"exercism"	Path to Exercism CLI binary.
exercism.cliTimeout	60000	CLI timeout in ms (min 5000).
exercism.readerPosition	"left"	Reader panel position: "left" or "right".

Architecture

src/
├── cli/exercismCli.ts        # CLI wrapper + Exercism API client with caching
├── workspace/workspaceScanner.ts  # Local filesystem scanner
├── models/                   # Track, Exercise, ExerciseStatus
├── views/                    # TreeView provider + items
├── webview/                  # Markdown preview panel
└── extension.ts              # Entry point, command registration

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Compile
npm run compile

# Watch mode
npm run watch

# Run tests
npm test

# Launch in VS Code (F5)
# Uses .vscode/launch.json

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please open an issue first to discuss what you'd like to change.

License

MIT

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Built with ❤️ for the Exercism community