integrate-vcpkg.md

title	Integrate vcpkg with Visual Studio or Visual Studio Code
description	Learn how to integrate vcpkg with Visual Studio on Windows, or Visual Studio Code on macOS and Linux.
ms.date	12/11/2020
ms.technology	cpp-ide

Integrate vcpkg with Visual Studio or Visual Studio Code

vcpkg is a cross-platform command-line package manager for C and C++ libraries. You can integrate it with Visual Studio on Windows, or Visual Studio Code on Linux and macOS.

Integrate with Visual Studio on Windows

Integrate per-user

From the vcpkg root directory, run vcpkg integrate install to configure Visual Studio to locate all vcpkg header files and binaries on a per-user basis. There's no need to edit the VC++ Directories paths in Visual Studio. If you have multiple clones of vcpkg, the clone you run this command from becomes the new default location.

Now you can include headers by typing the folder or header name, and autocomplete assists you. You don't need any extra steps to link to libraries or to add project references. The following illustration shows how Visual Studio finds the azure-storage-cpp headers. vcpkg places its headers in the /installed subfolder, partitioned by target platform. The following diagram shows the list of include files in the /was subfolder for the library:

Integrate per project

If you need to use a specific version of a library that's different from the version in your active vcpkg instance, follow these steps:

1. Make a new clone of vcpkg. For more information, see Install vcpkg.

2. Change to the new vcpkg root directory.

3. Modify the portfile for the library to obtain the version you need.

4. Run vcpkg install <library>. For more information, see Manage libraries with vcpkg.

5. Use vcpkg integrate project to create a NuGet package that references that library on a per-project basis.

Integrate with Visual Studio Code on Linux or macOS

In your shell or Terminal window, change directories to the vcpkg root directory. Then run ./vcpkg integrate install to configure Visual Studio Code on Linux or macOS. This command sets the location of the vcpkg tools and libraries, and enables IntelliSense on source files.

Remove vcpkg integration

If you've used the integrate option, you should remove the integration before you remove a vcpkg instance. To remove and clean up your integration, change directories to the vcpkg root directory. On Windows, run vcpkg integrate remove to ensure the integration gets cleaned up. On Linux or macOS, run the ./vcpkg integrate remove command.

See also

vcpkg: a C++ package manager for Windows, Linux, and macOS
vcpkg on GitHub
Install vcpkg
Manage libraries with vcpkg
vcpkg command-line reference
Quick start
Frequently asked questions