Is it possible to use two different "projects.json" files, one for work projects and one for personal?

[jdkolassa]

So this might not be a Project Manager specific question and a more general VS Code one, but since my use case is about Project Manager I'll ask here first.

My objective

To keep all of my extensions across work and personal computers, except to have a different projects list in my Project Manager extension for work projects and for personal projects.

The problem as I see it

I have two personal computers (a desktop and a laptop.) I also have a work computer. I want to use settings sync to sync all settings between my personal computers and all but one setting between my personal and work computers -- the projects.json file for Project Manager. I do not want all my personal projects to appear in Project Manager while I am working, because there are many learning and weird experiments that I just don't want cluttering up my view. I also don't want to accidentally open up a personal project on my work computer, or a work project on my home computer -- I just want to keep these realms as separate as possible.

I'm not sure if there is a way to set up VS Code to use two slightly different profiles -- I have seen the idea of code profiles and I have installed Profile Switcher -- but I don't understand if this can accomplish my objective. I thought if I set the following:

`{ "projectManager.projectsLocation": "~\\.vscode\\projects.json"}`

Then I could keep separate projects.json files on my computers...but then wouldn't that get overridden by a settings sync anyways?

As for the question "Why not use tags?" the thing is that I plan on using tags for different languages and frameworks, as well as training and testing projects. It's already probably going to be cluttered as-is, so I want a level of organization above that. Is what I am asking for feasible, and if so, do you have any recommendations/suggestions about how to go about it? (Is it just as simple as taking the above setting and changing it inside a code profile? Or is it much more than that?)

[alefragnani]

Hi @jdkolassa ,

To summarize, this is not possible, not only because the Project Manager extension but also VS Code itself.

I see three different approaches and their dependencies.

User Profiles

The extension has no profile concept, neither a way to split projects/configs between personal and work projects. Both, the projects.json file (where the Favorite projects are stored) and the projectManager.xxx.baseFolders settings works for a single user/profile.

This could change depending on how the new User Profiles feature (which the VS Code team has just started) would work. If the User Profile supports not only user settings but also how extensions manages state, maybe that could work out of the box.

But you will have to wait until the feature is fully developed by the VS Code team.

Tags

If you only care about Favorite Projects, I would say Tags would work perfectly, because you would need add a single Tag to split between Personal and Work projects. Tags are not supported on auto-detected projects, yet, but it's on the roadmap.

Settings Sync

If you rely on this VS Code built in feature, you are out of luck as well. The VS Code team still didn't provided an API for extensions to sync additional files (projects.json on this case), so you your projects won't be synced between different computers

In the end, right now, the best approach may be Tags, but its not perfect, as you already mentioned.

Hope this helps

[jdkolassa]

Hi @alefragnani,

If the extension doesn't sync the projects.json file, and that is only for organizing your projects on one computer, I am perfectly fine with that. No complaints.

Looks like this will work for me! Thanks for the extension, it's great and it's definitely going to come in handy at my office!