madskristensen

Create taggers that mark text spans for squiggles, outlining, text markers, classification, and other editor features. Use when the user asks how to add squiggly underlines, error squiggles, warning markers, code folding, outlining regions, collapsible regions, text markers, tag spans, or ITagger. Covers VisualStudio.Extensibility (out-of-process), VSIX Community Toolkit (in-process), and legacy VSSDK (in-process) approaches.

Add Fluent design system color support to VS theme (.vstheme) files. Use for: vstheme, color theme, fluent theme colors, Shell category, ShellInternal category, AccentFillDefault, EnvironmentBackground, theme pack, custom theme, theme extension, add fluent colors, missing shell colors, theme color tokens.

Control a running Visual Studio IDE instance from the agent's terminal. Use this skill whenever you need to make Visual Studio *do* something — open a file (optionally at a specific line), execute any IDE command (Build.BuildSolution, Edit.FormatDocument, File.SaveAll, Debug.Start, etc.), start or stop the debugger, enumerate or modify projects and documents, or otherwise programmatically operate the live VS instance the user is working in. Works by acquiring the `EnvDTE.DTE` COM automation object from the Windows Running Object Table (ROT) via PowerShell. Triggers on phrases such as "open in Visual Studio", "open file at line", "run VS command", "execute DTE", "build the solution", "save all in VS", "go to line in VS", "start debugging", or any task that requires controlling the live VS IDE. Windows-local only — does not work over SSH, WSL, dev containers, or Codespaces.

Convert a legacy (non-SDK-style) Visual Studio extension (VSIX) project to modern SDK-style csproj format. Use when the user asks how to modernize a VSIX csproj, convert a Visual Studio extension from old-style to SDK-style, simplify a VSIX project file, remove verbose MSBuild XML from an extension project, migrate a VSIX project to Microsoft.NET.Sdk, or update a Visual Studio extension project to use auto-globbing and modern NuGet PackageReferences. This skill is specifically for VSIX extension projects — not general class libraries, console apps, or other project types. Covers VSSDK and VSIX Community Toolkit (in-process) extensions targeting .NET Framework 4.8.

Create custom document editors for domain-specific file types in Visual Studio extensions. Use when the user asks how to create a custom editor, editor factory, document editor pane, open files with a custom UI, implement IVsEditorFactory, use LanguageBase to register a language with an editor, create an EditorPane with IVsPersistDocData, register an editor for a file extension with ProvideEditorFactory, handle document persistence and dirty state, or build a visual designer for a custom file format. Covers VSIX Community Toolkit (LanguageBase), VSSDK (IVsEditorFactory + WindowPane), and VisualStudio.Extensibility (no custom editor API yet).

Add custom CodeLens indicators that display inline information above code elements in the Visual Studio editor. Use when the user asks how to add a CodeLens indicator, show inline data above methods or classes, create a custom CodeLens provider, implement IAsyncCodeLensDataPointProvider, display git history or test status in CodeLens, or add a details popup to CodeLens entries. Covers VSSDK / VSIX Community Toolkit (in-process + out-of-process CodeLens service). VisualStudio.Extensibility (out-of-process) does not have a dedicated CodeLens API.

Add commands (menu items, toolbar buttons) to Visual Studio extensions. Use when the user asks how to create a command, add a menu item, add a toolbar button, register a command handler, wire up a .vsct file, use KnownMonikers icons on buttons, or place commands in menus/toolbars in a Visual Studio IDE extension. Covers VisualStudio.Extensibility (out-of-process), VSIX Community Toolkit (in-process), and legacy VSSDK (in-process) approaches.

Add native-looking context menus to custom WPF UI in Visual Studio extensions (tool windows, custom tree views, list views). Use when the user wants to show a right-click context menu from their own UI that looks native to VS. Covers defining VSCT context menus (type="Context"), grouping commands with separators, and programmatically showing them via IVsUIShell.ShowContextMenu. Do NOT use regular WPF ContextMenu — it won't match VS theming or support command routing. Covers VSSDK and VSIX Community Toolkit (in-process). VisualStudio.Extensibility (out-of-process) does not support VSCT-based context menus on custom UI.

Pattern for keeping a rolling temperature-trend sample buffer in Hubitat state, computing slope over a configurable window, and classifying rising/falling/steady/unknown.

Implement Tuya Local v3.3 Groovy drivers on Hubitat using rawSocket, AES-128-ECB, queued retries, and defensive frame parsing.

Use Hubitat async HTTP plus a request queue to authenticate with Cognito, cache tokens in state, refresh proactively, and replay a single 401-failed request.

When two agents produce overlapping skills in one session, consolidate by merging unique content into the highest-confidence existing skill.

Never let cached-state dedup bypass session validity in cloud-backed Hubitat drivers.

Standard guard pattern for async HTTP response callbacks in Hubitat drivers

Correct formula for converting lat/lng degree differences to miles, with pole clamp for numerical stability

End-users discover drivers via root packageManifest.json and README, not per-driver folder manifests

{what this skill teaches agents}

Troubleshoot Macros .csx scripts: command names, null state, timing, and runtime vs IntelliSense

Use EnvDTE80.DTE2 inside Macros .csx files to inspect and automate Visual Studio

Use the Community.VisualStudio.Toolkit facade from inside Macros .csx files

Trigger syntax for Macros .csx files: events, commands, filters, and header edits

How to write .csx macros for Visual Studio automation in the Macros repo

{what this skill teaches agents}