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Skillsfactory-reset-vscode-fork-ide

factory-reset-vscode-fork-ide

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Updated 10-16 09:52

About this skill

VSCode Forked IDE Factory Restore

For Windows (run in Git Bash). Goal: extension count to zero + user configuration back to factory.No backups are kept by default(user preference); deletions always go to the Recycle Bin (SendToRecycleBin), never direct physical deletion.

Audit attachment: For all C drive paths handled in past real-world operations (each IDE's extension folders, the personal configuration trio, untouched adjacent directories, recovery guidance), see references/cleanup-audit-log.md. Before executing a new target, refer to this list to confirm the handling boundaries for similar paths; after completing each new cleanup, this list should be appended and updated.

Iron rules (pitfalls already stepped on)

  1. Choose the right CLI entry point: under the fork's bin/ there are often multiple .cmd(such as code.cmd、qoder-cn.cmd). Try --list-extensionsone by one; only the one that can output the extension list is the IDE management entry point; the other is most likely a shell for a standalone agent CLI and does not support extension arguments.
  2. Do not guess the data directory：~/.xxx/extensions A directory like this may belong toanother product from the same family(shared or historical leftover). The only authoritative source is the <安装目录>/resources/app/product.json field of dataFolderName .
  3. Built-in imported extensions must --force: reporting marked as a Built-in extension is not a failure; add --force and retry.
  4. Must scan for residue after uninstall: CLI uninstall leaves empty shell folders,.GUID temp directories and .obsolete markers; physical directories must be cleaned manually.
  5. Dependencies will block uninstall: when it reports Cannot uninstall 'X'. 'Y' extension depends on this , first uninstall the dependent party Y(if Y is built-in "not installed", after the IDE process exits, retry X and it usually goes through); reporting is not installed means that item has already been cleared elsewhere, so just skip it; it does not count as a failure.
  6. The IDE process must exit first: a running instance will write back extensions.json and user configuration when it exits, overwriting the cleanup results. Before starting, tasklist | grep -i <IDE名>, if there are processes, have the user close them first.
  7. extensions.json Counting to 0 is the only completion: the folder was deleted but the registry was not cleared = not cleaned up.
  8. Never touch adjacent product directories: only touch the target fork's own ~/.<dataFolderName>(and only its extensions subdirectory) and %APPDATA%\<AppName>\Userthe other directories with the same prefix are other products' homes (.qoder / .qoder-cn / .qoderwork belong to different products; ownership is based on each one's own product.json).
  9. The CLI uninstall path may be entirely broken: ifallextensions report the same JS error (such as Trae EN's Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'isProtectedExtension'), with or without --force it is the same), it means the fork has broken the uninstall function, not a problem with an individual extension. Do not retry one by one—directly switch to the "direct registry modification plan" (see the fallback branch in standard procedure §3).

Standard procedure

0. Four checks before starting (start gate; if any one fails, do not start)

  1. Check processes：tasklist | grep -i <IDE名>, if there are processes, have the user exit first (iron rule 6).
  2. Check entry point: try one by one bin/*.cmd --list-extensions, and lock onto the extension management CLI (Iron Rule 1).
  3. Check ownership: read product.json 's dataFolderName and nameLong, use ls to confirm the actual directory exists (Iron Rule 2).
  4. Check boundaries: enumerate all directories with the same prefix under ~/.<前缀>* and %APPDATA% , list the neighboring product inventory and the agent-layer subdirectories within the target directory (such as agent-extensions/、rules/、skills/、memory/), and make clear that only extensions/is to be touched (Iron Rule 8). Show the results of the four checks to the user before taking action.
  5. Check whether the body is genuine: confirm that the target installation directory contains the main program .exe、resources/app/product.json；An empty directory or an incomplete directory is an empty shell(possibly uninstall residue or a wrong path given), immediately verify the real path with the user, and do not run the process against an empty shell. The same product may have multiple similar paths at the same time (such as ai-ide/trae-cn empty shell and ai-agent/trae-code-cn real body), and the path must be verified character by character.

1. Select the CLI entry point

IDE_DIR="<IDE 安装目录>"   # 如 "D:/dev-tool/ai-ide/Qoder CN IDE"
for c in "$IDE_DIR"/bin/*.cmd; do
  echo "== $c =="; "$c" --list-extensions 2>&1 | head -20
done
CLI="<能列出扩展的那个 .cmd 全路径>"

2. Locate the data directory (product.json is the sole authority)

grep -o '"dataFolderName": *"[^"]*"' "$IDE_DIR/resources/app/product.json"
grep -o '"nameLong": *"[^"]*"'       "$IDE_DIR/resources/app/product.json" | head -1
# EXT_DIR = $USERPROFILE/.<dataFolderName>/extensions
# USER_DATA = %APPDATA%\<AppName>\User   （AppName 常与 nameLong 一致，大小写以实际目录为准，用 ls 确认）
ls "$USERPROFILE/.<dataFolderName>/extensions" "$APPDATA/<AppName>/User"

When the directory cannot be found: run "$CLI" --help | grep -iA1 "user-data-dir\|extensions-dir" to confirm the parameter name; use ls -d "$USERPROFILE"/.<前缀>* and ls "$APPDATA" | grep -i <前缀> to enumerate candidates; check each candidate for whether extensions/extensions.json exists—the one that exists is the live directory.Better to probe one step further than to delete the wrong directory.

3. Uninstall all extensions (loop + --force)

"$CLI" --list-extensions | tr -d '\r' | while read -r ext; do
  echo "== $ext =="
  "$CLI" --uninstall-extension "$ext" --force
done

Already factory-state branch: if --list-extensions is empty and extensions.json is already [], it means the plugin layer needs no handling—do not force work to do. Skip directly to §6 verification and confirmation, list the remaining residue (the IDE's own assets, cache, agent layer) for the user to decide whether to delete or keep, and do not expand the scope on your own.

Fallback branch (triggered by Iron Rule 9)—direct registry modification plan：

If all extensions in the previous step report the same JS error (the fork broke the uninstall function), do not retry one by one; directly manually complete the three things the CLI was originally supposed to do:

  1. First check exemptions: confirm that the physical directory extensions/ does not contain the fork's built-in protection items (ls | grep -iE '<fork前缀>|<其保护清单>'). The protection item list can be found from the whitelist of isProtectedExtension in the installation directory source code. If there are none, all can be deleted.
  2. Clear the registry：printf '[]' > ~/.<dataFolderName>/extensions/extensions.json。
  3. Clear physical residue: follow the standard process §4 to recycle all extension directories.
  4. Proceed as usual with §5 / §6: reset configuration + four-evidence verification.

Direct registry modification is equivalent to uninstalling—extensions.json belongs to [] and after the directory is emptied, the IDE will no longer load any extensions.

Same-code-family prediction: different distributions of the same product (such as Trae EN / Trae CN / Trae AICC) share code, and the uninstall pathmaybe broken in the same way. But this is only a probabilistic prediction and cannot be treated as a conclusion—each target must be individually retested once before determining the path(counterexample: Trae EN is all broken, but Trae CN's CLI is completely normal).

4. Clean up physical residue in extension directories (Recycle Bin)

powershell.exe -NoProfile -Command "Add-Type -AssemblyName Microsoft.VisualBasic; Get-ChildItem 'C:\Users\<用户>\.<dataFolderName>\extensions' -Directory | ForEach-Object { [Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.FileSystem]::DeleteDirectory(\$_.FullName,'OnlyErrorDialogs','SendToRecycleBin'); Write-Host ('recycled: ' + \$_.Name) }"
# 若残留 .obsolete 标记文件：同法 DeleteFile 回收

5. Reset user configuration (settings.json / keybindings.json / snippets/)

powershell.exe -NoProfile -Command "Add-Type -AssemblyName Microsoft.VisualBasic; \$src = \"\$env:APPDATA\<AppName>\User\"; [Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.FileSystem]::DeleteFile(\"\$src\settings.json\",'OnlyErrorDialogs','SendToRecycleBin'); [Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.FileSystem]::DeleteFile(\"\$src\keybindings.json\",'OnlyErrorDialogs','SendToRecycleBin'); [Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.FileSystem]::DeleteDirectory(\"\$src\snippets\",'OnlyErrorDialogs','SendToRecycleBin'); Set-Content \"\$src\settings.json\" '{}' -Encoding UTF8; Set-Content \"\$src\keybindings.json\" '[]' -Encoding UTF8; New-Item -ItemType Directory \"\$src\snippets\" | Out-Null"

Parts not to be touched (unless the user explicitly requests a thorough cleanup):globalStorage/、workspaceStorage/— Stores the IDE's own login state and workspace state, not redundant imported configuration.

6. Verification loop (all four pieces of evidence are indispensable)

"$CLI" --list-extensions                # 输出必须为空
ls "$USERPROFILE/.<dataFolderName>/extensions"   # 只剩空 extensions.json（可含 .obsolete）
cat "$APPDATA/<AppName>/User/settings.json"      # {}
cat "$APPDATA/<AppName>/User/keybindings.json"   # []

Verification discipline: when capturing the exit code, do not append grep / head or other filters after the command—the pipeline's $? is the filter's exit code, and an empty match returns non-zero, creating a false "failure" report (Trae EN real-world lesson).fork private warnings written to stderr will also dirty the pipeline(such as Antigravity's antigravityAnalytics NOT registered); during verification, use 命令 > /tmp/out 2>/dev/null; echo $? to capture the exit code separately, then check the output file (Antigravity real-world lesson).

Exemption clause: automatically delivered built-in extensions do not need to be handled

Some forks (such as Qoder CN IDE) onstartup will automatically re-deliverbuilt-in extensions marked as "Built-in" (known:ms-python.python / autopep8 / debugpy / vscode-python-envs / detachhead.basedpyright). This is the IDE's own behavior,notpersonal plugins imported by the user from VSCode:

  • after uninstalling, as long as that IDE is started again, they will come back (even the version numbers will be renewed), so repeatedly uninstalling is a waste of effort.
  • The goal of factory restoration is to clear outredundant imported configuration and plugins; this batch of automatic built-in items does not carry the user's old settings,so exempt them directly and do not handle them。
  • During delivery acceptance, just explain this exemption to the user; do not treat it as a cleanup failure.

Optional: completely uninstall the IDE

In the installation directory, unins000.exe(Inno Setup) is the official uninstaller and requires interactive confirmation; prompt the user to run it manually or authorize it separately.

Real-world case (2026-08-31, Qoder CN IDE)

  • Entry pitfall:bin/qoder-cn.cmd --list-extensions reports "QoderCN CLI is not installed"; in the same directory, bin/code.cmd is the extension management entry point.
  • Directory pitfall:~/.qoder/extensions(80+ extensions) belongs to Qoder IDE (another product),product.json 's dataFolderName: .qoder-cn points to the real directory.
  • Interception pitfall: all 5 imported extensions were intercepted as "Built-in",--force after that all were uninstalled successfully.
  • Residue pitfall: after uninstalling, ~/.qoder-cn/extensions left 17 folders (including 11 .GUID temporary directories and 1 legacy extension); after reclaiming them according to step 4, extensions.json returned to 0.
  • The user explicitly refused any backup files—after deletion, even the backup manifest must be reclaimed.
  • Resurrection pitfall: after cleanup was completed, the user started that IDE once, and the 5 Built-in extensions were automatically re-delivered (with renewed version numbers). User ruling: such automatic built-in items are exempt and not handled (see "Exemption clause").

Real-world case 2 (2026-08-31, Qoder IDE)

  • Entry:bin/code.cmd manages extensions (78 items),bin/qoder.cmd is an agent CLI shell—isomorphic to case 1.
  • New pitfall 1: when the IDE process was running, batch uninstalling caused 3 failures (1 dependency blockage + 2 phantom not installed); after the process exited, retrying succeeded.Lesson: check processes before acting (iron rule 6).
  • New pitfall 2:ms-python.python was blocked by the built-in Pylance dependency, but Pylance is not in the user registry (--uninstall reported not installed); after the IDE was closed, directly retrying ms-python.python --force succeeded.
  • Note:%APPDATA%\Qoder\User contains Qoder's own mcp.json、app.json etc., not part of the VSCode trio, left untouched during reset.
  • Four-evidence closed loop passed: list empty / directory only has extensions.json / settings {} / keybindings [], registry count 0.

Practical case 3 (2026-08-31, Trae EN)

  • Entry:bin/trae.cmd the only CLI,--list-extensions available (122 items).
  • Attribution:dataFolderName: .trae; same family includes .trae-cn / .trae-aicc and %APPDATA%\Trae CN / TRAE SOLO CN, only touch ~/.trae/extensions and %APPDATA%\Trae\User。
  • New pitfall (Iron Rule 9 triggered for the first time)：--uninstall-extension forall 122 extensions report the same error Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'isProtectedExtension'), with or without --force it's the same—the fork broke the CLI uninstall path. Retrying one by one is a dead end.
  • Solution: use the "direct registry modification approach"—first confirm the extensions/ directory has no trae.*/cloudide.* protected files (the source whitelist is trae.ai and 3 other items, none of which are in the directory), then extensions.json write [], reclaim 149 physical directories, and reset the configuration trio.
  • Note:~/.trae also contains agent-extensions/、rules/、skills/ and other Trae agent layers, only touch the extensions/ subdirectory.
  • Four-evidence closed loop passed: list empty (exit 0) / directory only has extensions.json / settings {} / keybindings [], registry count 0.

Practical case 4 (2026-08-31, Trae CN)

  • Path mix-up (the direct cause of the newly added fifth check): first obtained D:\dev-tool\ai-ide\trae-cn(empty shell, an empty directory created on 2026-02-14), almost handled it as "residual cleanup"; after the user corrected it, confirmed the real body is in D:\dev-tool\ai-agent\trae-code-cn(214MB main program).Lesson: a directory with no exe / no product.json is an empty shell, the path must be verified word by word (§0 check 5).
  • Attribution:dataFolderName: .trae-cn，nameLong: Trae CN; entry bin/trae-cn.cmd only.
  • Plugin layer is already in factory state：--list-extensions empty, registry [], no settings.json / keybindings.json, snippets empty—use the "already in factory state branch", do not force finding work.
  • Family prediction correction: Trae EN's CLI uninstall is completely broken, but Trae CN's --uninstall-extension is completely normal (single-item retest passed)—same family ≠ same disease, predictions must be confirmed by retesting.
  • User decision: only clear the cache layer—reclaim %APPDATA%\Trae CN\User\ under History/ / globalStorage/ / workspaceStorage/；~/.trae-cn(134M, including builtin/plugins/jwt tokens) and %APPDATA%\Trae CN top-level Electron cache (CachedData 100M etc.)keep, list the items for the user, do not act without approval.

Practical case 5 (2026-08-31, CodeBuddy CN)

  • Same type as case 4:buddycn.cmd CLI normal, plugin layer factory state out of the box (list empty / registry []), no keybindings, snippets empty—use the "already in factory state branch".
  • New exemption identification：settings.json only 14 lines and all are CodeBuddy.* / codingcopilot.* prefix—this is the fork's own AI configuration, not imported editor configuration, keep as exempt.Identification method: check the configuration prefix line by line, if all are the fork's own namespace then exempt; only when editor.* / workbench.* and other VSCode general items are mixed in is it imported configuration.
  • User decision as usual clears the cache layer: reclaim %APPDATA%\CodeBuddy CN\User\ under three cache directories (about 2MB total); same family .codebuddy(international version) untouched.

Practical case 6/7 (2026-08-31, Kiro + Antigravity, dual-target parallel)

  • Both target structures are standard VSCode forks (exe + product.json + bin),kiro.cmd(46 items) and antigravity.cmd(79 items) CLI uninstall paths are both normal,two-way background parallel uninstallis the standard posture for batch targets.
  • Antigravity 2 ms-vscode.remote-* reported not installed phantoms (Iron Rule 5 skip); its CLI prints [createInstance] ... antigravityAnalytics NOT registered stderr warning on every invocation—harmless noise, but it pollutes the pipeline exit code (see §6 verification discipline reinforcement).
  • Mixed-config discrimination reinforcement: Kiro's settings.json is a hybrid (kiroAgent.* own items + editor.*/git.*/cSpell.* import traces mixed together). Discrimination method upgraded:as long as any editor.* / workbench.* / git.* and other VSCode generic items are mixed in, reset the whole thing as an imported config(under factory-restore semantics, own items will be rebuilt to default values by the IDE); only pure own prefixes are exempt (the discrimination method in case 5 applies only to pure files).
  • Kiro incidental risk disclosure: in the old config, kiroAgent.trustedCommands contained a bare wildcard "*"(equivalent to the agent command approval-free whitelist fully open), which has been eliminated after reset—proactively point out such security hazards to the user at delivery.
  • Boundary:~/.kiro has an agent layer (hooks/、powers/、skills/、steering/）、~/.antigravity has an adjacent product directory .antigravity_cockpit / .antigravity_tools / com.lbjlaq.antigravity-tools(%APPDATA%), neither was touched.
  • Dual-target four evidences all green: list empty (exit 0 after redirection) / directory only has extensions.json / settings {} / keybindings [], both registry counts 0.