Workspace Configuration

Click the Workspace card to configure your west workspace. Choose to set up a workspace in the current VS Code folder or an external directory.

Workspace Setup

Workspace Setup Methods

1. IDE for Zephyr Workspace from Git

Clone a repository that contains a pre-configured IDE for Zephyr workspace setup. This is useful when working with a team project that already has IDE for Zephyr configured.

2. West Workspace from Git

Clone a west-based Zephyr repository from Git. This allows you to start with an existing west project.

3. Standard Workspace

Create a fresh workspace in the current folder with:

Python virtual environment setup
West installation
Zephyr repository initialization
Optional: Choose between minimal or full Zephyr installation (minimal is recommended for faster setup)

4. Open Current Directory

Use the current folder as a west workspace. When selected, you can choose how to configure it:

Use .west folder - Use an existing .west configuration in the directory (recommended if already initialized)
Use west.yml file - Use an existing west.yml manifest file
Create new west.yml - Create a new manifest file for a fresh workspace
Use external Zephyr installation - Link to an externally managed Zephyr installation

5. External Directory

Use Zephyr IDE: Setup Workspace from External Directory when the workspace you want to register is not the folder currently open in VS Code.

This is useful when:

You keep west workspaces outside your editor checkout folder
You use one .code-workspace file to point at multiple repositories
You want IDE for Zephyr to manage a shared workspace without reopening VS Code in that directory

Vendor Configurations

When you choose Create new west.yml, the west selector also includes Vendor Configurations. Vendor entries are registered by ID and metadata, and each vendor template provides:

west.yml (required) — copied into your workspace as the manifest
host-tools.json (optional) — additional host tools prompted during setup

This vendor data is provided by the extension (resources/vendors/vendors.json and resources/vendors/<vendor-id>/) and is not stored in .vscode/zephyr-ide.json.

Workspace Setup Process

When setting up a new workspace, the extension will:

Setup West Environment - Create a Python virtual environment and install west
West Init - Initialize the workspace with a west.yml manifest file
West Update - Clone Zephyr and its dependencies into the workspace
Install Python Packages - Install Zephyr’s requirements.txt and any additional packages or requirements files declared in zephyr-ide.json pipPackages/pipRequirements into the virtual environment

The folder structure after setup will typically look like:

workspace/
+-- .west/              # West configuration
+-- .venv/              # Python virtual environment
+-- zephyr/             # Zephyr RTOS source
+-- modules/            # Zephyr modules and dependencies
+-- your-app/           # Your application folder (with west.yml)

Configured Workspace

Once configured, the workspace panel will display your workspace information and allow you to directly update the west.yml file:

Configured Workspace Panel

Workspace Lifecycle and Recovery

Once a workspace has been registered, these commands help you manage it over time:

Zephyr IDE: Deactivate Workspace - Stop using the current workspace for this window, but keep it in the registry so it can be selected again later.
Zephyr IDE: Unregister Workspace - Remove a workspace from the extension’s registry entirely.
Zephyr IDE: Re-run West Setup - Re-run the west setup/update flow for the active workspace after changing manifests or recovering a partial setup.
Zephyr IDE: Reset Workspace - Clear workspace configuration and start the setup flow again from scratch.
Zephyr IDE: Reset Active Installation - Clear the current Zephyr installation selection when switching between managed and external environments.

If you are intentionally managing west outside the extension, Zephyr IDE: Skip West Setup marks the workspace as ready without re-running initialization.