Web Compiler

A Visual Studio extension that compiles LESS, Sass Stylus, JSX, ES6 and CoffeeScript files.

Download the extension at the VS Gallery or get the nightly build

See the changelog for changes and roadmap.

Features

Compilation of LESS, Scss, Stylus, JSX, ES6 and (Iced)CoffeeScript files
Saving a source file triggers re-compilation automatically
Specify compiler options for each individual file
Error List integration
MSBuild support for CI scenarios
Minify the compiled output
Minification options for each language is customizable
Shows a watermark when opening a generated file
Shortcut to compile all specified files in solution
Task Runner Explorer integration
Command line interface
Integrates with Web Analyzer

Getting started

Right-click any .less, .scss, .styl, .jsx, .es6 or .coffee file in Solution Explorer to setup compilation.

A file called compilerconfig.json is created in the root of the project. This file lets you modify the behavior of the compiler.

Right-clicking the compilerconfig.json file lets you easily run all the configured compilers.

Compile on save

Any time a .less, .scss, .styl, .jsx, .es6 or .coffee file is modified within Visual Studio, the compiler runs automatically to produce the compiled output file.

The same is true when saving the compilerconfig.json file where all configured files will be compiled.

Compile on build / CI support

In ASP.NET MVC and WebForms projects you can enable compilation as part of the build step. Simply right-click the compilerconfig.json file to enable it.

Clicking the menu item will prompt you with information about what will happen if you click the OK button.

A NuGet package will be installed into the packages folder without adding any files to the project itself. The NuGet package contains an MSBuild task that will run the exact same compilers on the compilerconfig.json file in the root of the project.

Compile all

You can run the compiler on all compilerconfig.json files in the solution by using the keyboard shortcut Shift+Alt+Y or by using the button on the top level Build menu.

Task Runner Explorer

Get a quick overview of the files you've specified or execute a compilation directly in Task Runner Explorer.

You can even set bindings so that compilation happens automatically during certain Visual Studio events, such as BeforeBuild and Project Open.

Error list

When a compiler error occurs, the error list in Visual Studio will show the error and its exact location in the source file.

Source maps

Source maps are supported for .scss files only for now, but the plan is to have source map support for all languages. Web Compiler differs from it's predecesor, Web Essentials, in that it inlines a base64 encoded version of the map in the generated .css file rather than producing a separate .map file.

compilerconfig.json

The extension adds a compilerconfig.json file at the root of the project which is used to configure all compilation.

Here's an example of what that file looks like:

[
  {
    "outputFile": "output/site.css",
    "inputFile": "input/site.less",
    "minify": {
        "enabled": true
    },
    "includeInProject": true,
    "options":{
        "sourceMap": false
    }
  },
  {
    "outputFile": "output/scss.css",
    "inputFile": "input/scss.scss",
    "minify": {
        "enabled": true
    },
    "includeInProject": true,
    "options":{
        "sourceMap": true
    }
  }
]

Default values for compilerconfig.json can be found in the compilerconfig.json.defaults file in the same location.

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