Setup Sourcetree to use Visual Studio Code as External Diff

[Joe Payne]

I'm using a Macbook Pro and have installed both Visual Studio Code (with command line) and Sourcetree.  I used sourcetree to setup the external diff tool.  And can confirm git is using it by going to a directory with changes and running "git difftool".  This will launch vscode diff on the files in the directory.  But whenever I right click a changed file in Sourcetree and select External Diff nothing happens.  I verified there are no other git config files by using:

find /my/home/dir -n ".gitconfig"

Here is my .gitconfig

[code]
editor = code --wait
[merge]
tool = sourcetree
[diff]
tool = sourcetree
[difftool]
prompt = false
[difftool "sourcetree"]
cmd = code --wait --diff $LOCAL $REMOTE
path =
[mergetool "sourcetree"]
cmd = code --wait $MERGED
trustExitCode = true

Is there some step I'm missing or something I did incorrect?

[DanSmith888]

I had better success. I have to set the command as follows:

/Applications/Visual\ Studio\ Code.app/Contents/MacOS/Electron

The args were as above and work. Note the \ slashes to escape the spaces... without these it fails silently.

[minnsey]

Hi

I think its just a case of double dashes, --wait and --diff

[Joe Payne]

I noticed that after I had changed to the full name when updating the pasted config.  I had -w and -d in the file itself but I do have --wait and --diff now.  Still same result as -w and -d.

[Joe Payne]

I have also tried both embedded git and installed git.

[minnsey]

Interesting it is working for me

[Joe Payne]

I'll try completely removing sourcetree and reinstalling.  I already did the same for visual studio code.

[Joe Payne]

Still not working after complete reinstall of sourcetree.  Followed these directions and even removed the app before starting over.

https://confluence.atlassian.com/sourcetreekb/how-to-wipe-sourcetree-preferences-412484640.html

[minnsey]

No I don't think doing that to Sourcetree will change anything.

Playing around with it I followed the settings described here to get it working from the command line, then tried transposing them into the Sourcetree settings

https://stackoverflow.com/a/36644561/1297975

[Joe Payne]

What does your .gitconfig look like?  I saw that article and don't see where mine is different.

[Joe Payne]

Should the diff show under Command History?  Because it doesn't.

[minnsey]

Ah, sorry my mistake I overlooked the fact you are on macOS. I'm on Windows.

I will have to try and reproduce it on there. Sorry for any confusion.

[Joe Payne]

I made a simple little script to log the call and its not even logging anything.  Its as if sourcetree is not executing it at all.

/usr/local/bin$ cat code.sh
echo "Entered: " $@ >> /usr/local/bin/code.txt
/usr/local/bin/code "$@"

[Joe Payne]

Have you been able to replicate on a Mac?

[minnsey]

Hi 

Sorry for the late reply, no I cannot get it to launch on macOS at the moment. The Sourcetree setup and the manual setup in my config look the same, but while I can launch vscode via:

git difftool

I can't get it to launch via Sourcetree. I will pass it along to my macOS colleagues.

[G A]

So is there any update here or like an issue that we can track? 

It's still not working with VS Code 1.28.2 and Sourcetree 3.0

[Zoltán Ulrich]

I had the same problem and I got it working by using the full path to the code executable, like this: /usr/local/bin/code