abcjs-vscode
March 2, 2026 · View on GitHub
This is an editor for the ABC music notation, powered by the abcjs library.
It is an extension for Visual Studio Code and is available at Visual Studio Marketplace or through the Extensions panel in VS Code.
ABC notation - 🔤 - is known as the "Markdown for music". Learn more at the ABC Notation homepage.
Features
The extension displays the music sheet based on the Abc notation in the current editor. Clicking the note on the displayed sheet will select it in the editor.
Minimalistic tune
And a bit more elaborate:
Print Preview
This command will display a print-ready sheet in a browser. There you can print it to PDF or paper.
Export
The Export command will export an HTML page with the rendered score sheet.
The Export SVG command will export the score sheet as SVG.
Usage
Press Ctrl+Shift+P and type "abcjs" to access the available commands.
Available commands:
abcjs-vscode: Show Previewabcjs-vscode: Print Previewabcjs-vscode: Export Sheet to HTMLabcjs-vscode: Export Sheet as SVG
The Viewer works both with new text files in the editor and existing .abc files.
Requirements
The abcjs library is currently loaded from CDN and not packaged with the extension.
Extension Settings
In VSCode Settings, look for abcjs vscode configuration section. Editing the settings will apply them immediately to the Viewer. For convenience, you can arrange the window layout and keep the Settings window open in order to apply the settings to the current sheet preview.
Known Issues
The line-endings in the file need to be set to LF instead of CRLF (on Windows). Then the offsets will match between the sheet and the abc code.
Release Notes
See CHANGELOG.org.
Development
The package manager is npm.
Publishing
npm run compile
#or
npm run build
npm run publish
Note that the vscode engine version must start with a cared (^), otherwise it gets rejected by vscode on installation most of the time.
License
See license.