Feature Parity: Priority fixes before shared package extraction

[edvilme]

Feature Parity: Priority fixes before shared package extraction

This issue tracks the highest-priority bug fixes and feature gaps identified in vscode-flake8 as part of the cross-extension feature parity analysis.

These are Tier 1 infrastructure issues that affect 3-5 repos each and should be addressed before or during the extraction of shared code into vscode-python-tool-lsp. Fixing these in the shared package will resolve them across all extensions simultaneously.

See the full analysis: microsoft/vscode-python-tools-extension-template#290

Fixes (7 items)

Issue Description	Is Implemented	Fix Description	Repo Issue Tracking	Related Issues	Related PRs
Users have no visual indication when Flake8 is actively linting a file, making it unclear whether the extension is working or has stalled.	no	Required fix: This issue hasn't been reported in vscode-flake8 yet but exists in other extensions. Add a progress indicator (e.g., status bar spinner or VS Code progress notification) while Flake8 is running. Reference PR: microsoft/vscode-pylint#687.			microsoft/vscode-pylint#687
The Flake8 extension silently fails when Flake8 is misconfigured, missing required plugins, or running an unsupported version, with no error message or indication of failure shown to the user.	partial	Partially implemented: Stderr output from flake8 is always logged to the Output channel. User-visible notifications are available via the flake8.showNotifications setting (supports 'onError', 'onWarning', 'always'), but this defaults to 'off', so failures are silent unless the user configures it. Re	#242		microsoft/vscode-pylint#103
Running Flake8 via the VS Code extension produces different linting results than running Flake8 directly from the command line, causing confusion about which configuration or Python environment is bei	partial	Partially implemented: The exact flake8 command, CWD, and execution mode are logged to the Output channel for debugging. CWD is configurable via flake8.cwd with variable substitution. However, there is no explicit guarantee of identical environment variable propagation, and no envFile/.env support e
The Flake8 extension does not respect the python.envFile setting or .env files, so environment variables needed for import resolution or plugin configuration are not available to the Flake8 process.	no	Required fix: This issue hasn't been reported in vscode-flake8 yet but exists in other extensions. Read and apply environment variables from the configured python.envFile (or workspace .env) when spawning the Flake8 server process.
The Flake8 extension does not support an extraPaths setting (like python.analysis.extraPaths), so Flake8 cannot resolve imports from additional source directories outside the default Python path.	no	Required fix: This issue hasn't been reported in vscode-flake8 yet but exists in other extensions. Add a flake8.extraPaths setting that appends additional directories to PYTHONPATH when running Flake8. Reference PR: microsoft/vscode-pylint#524.			microsoft/vscode-pylint#524
The Flake8 extension produces errors or warnings visible in the VS Code Developer Tools console, indicating bugs in the extension's client-side TypeScript/JavaScript code.	partial	Partially implemented: Error handling exists in critical paths: try-catch on server stop/start, disposable cleanup, structured logging via OutputChannelLogger. PRs #401 and #428 improved error handling. However, no comprehensive DevTools error audit has
The Flake8 extension significantly slows down file save operations, with on-save linting taking many seconds to complete and blocking the editor.	partial	Partially implemented: Linting runs asynchronously via the LSP architecture (pygls), so save operations are not blocked in the editor. Server restarts are debounced at 2000ms. However, there is no debouncing of rapid individual file saves at the linting level. Required fix: This issue hasn't been re			microsoft/vscode-pylint#457

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Auto-generated from cross-extension feature parity analysis. See microsoft/vscode-python-tools-extension-template#290 for methodology and full results.

[github-actions]

🔍 Automated Issue Analysis

Probable Root Cause

This is an auto-generated tracking issue summarising 7 infrastructure gaps identified during a cross-extension feature parity analysis. These are not a single bug but a collection of missing or partially-implemented features, most of which originate in the shared template scaffolding. Below is a quick status snapshot of each item:

#	Gap	Current state	Notes
1	Progress indicator while linting	❌ Not implemented	No vscode.window.withProgress call exists in the TS client
2	Visible error on misconfiguration / missing plugin	⚠️ Partial	Errors reach the Output channel; notifications require opt-in via flake8.showNotifications (default off)
3	CLI result parity (env vars, CWD)	⚠️ Partial	Command and CWD are logged; no envFile/.env propagation
4	Respect python.envFile / .env	❌ Not implemented	Server spawn does not read or merge .env variables
5	flake8.extraPaths → PYTHONPATH	❌ Not implemented	No extraPaths setting exists in package.json or settings.ts
6	DevTools console errors	⚠️ Partial	Error handling improved in #401 and #428; no comprehensive audit yet
7	Debounce rapid file-save linting	⚠️ Partial	Server restarts are debounced (2 s); individual file-lint calls are not

Affected Code

• File(s): src/common/server.ts, src/common/settings.ts, src/extension.ts, bundled/tool/lsp_server.py
• Area: TypeScript client (items 1, 3–7) / Python server (item 2)

Related Issues & Pull Requests

• Linting silently fails when required plugin is missing #242 — Linting silently fails when required plugin is missing — directly tracked by item 2 (silent error on missing require-plugins); still open and labelled needs PR
• Sync with template: Fix duplicate server handlers on concurrent restarts #401 — Fix duplicate server handlers on concurrent restarts — closed PR that partially addressed item 6 (DevTools errors / unhandled rejections)
• Replace try-except-pass with contextlib.suppress #428 — Replace try-except-pass with contextlib.suppress — closed PR that further improved error-handling hygiene, also contributing to item 6

Template Impact

✅ Template-originated — upstream fix recommended

Items 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7 represent infrastructure missing from both this repository and the upstream template. Implementing them in vscode-python-tools-extension-template would propagate the fixes to all derived extensions simultaneously.

Item	Template file	Suggested fix
Progress indicator (1)	src/common/server.ts	Wrap the lint-request path with vscode.window.withProgress or a status-bar spinner, similar to vscode-pylint#687
python.envFile support (4)	src/common/server.ts, src/common/settings.ts	Read the file pointed to by python.envFile (or a workspace .env) and merge its key-value pairs into the process env when spawning the LSP server
extraPaths → PYTHONPATH (5)	package.json, src/common/settings.ts, src/common/server.ts	Add an (tool).extraPaths setting; prepend its entries to PYTHONPATH before spawning, analogous to vscode-pylint#524
Save debounce (7)	src/common/server.ts	Add a per-document debounce (e.g. 200–500 ms) on didSave/didChange lint triggers, similar to vscode-pylint#457

Items 2 and 6 have flake8-specific aspects (stderr parsing, showNotifications default) and are best fixed locally in this repository.

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This analysis was generated automatically. It may not be fully accurate — maintainer review is recommended.
To re-run this analysis (e.g., after new information is added to the issue), comment /triage-issue.

Generated by Issue Triage for issue #456