Visual Studio Code C/C++ Extension Setup on M1 Mac

Prerequisites

  • Visual Studio Code extension ms-vscode.cpptools

  • Xcode Command-line Tools / Xcode IDE

    • To install Xcode Command-line Tools: xcode-select --install
    • To install Xcode IDE: mas install Xcode

Test Environment

  • Visual Studio Code 1.54.3 (Universal)

    • Commit: 2b9aebd5354a3629c3aba0a5f5df49f43d6689f8
    • Extension: ms-vscode.cpptools v1.2.2

  • macOS 11.2.3

    $ uname -v
Darwin Kernel Version 20.3.0: Thu Jan 21 00:06:51 PST 2021;
root:xnu-7195.81.3~1/RELEASE_ARM64_T8101

  • Xcode 12.4 (12D4e)

    $ clang --version
Apple clang version 12.0.0 (clang-1200.0.32.29)
Target: arm64-apple-darwin20.3.0
Thread model: posix
InstalledDir: /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin

Setup

Modify the settings.json in Visual Studio Code as shown below

Compiler path

  • For Xcode Command-line Tools:

    /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin

  • For Xcode IDE:

    /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/

Mac framwork path

The system header files

  • For Xcode Command-line Tools:

    /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks

  • For Xcode IDE:

    /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks

Include path

  • For Xcode Command-line Tools:

    /usr/local/include/**
/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/lib/clang/12.0.0/include/**
/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/usr/include/**
/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/include/**

  • For Xcode IDE:

    /usr/local/include/**
/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/lib/clang/12.0.0/include/**
/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/usr/include/**
/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/usr/lib/llvm-gcc/4.2.1/include/**

Example

The version of clang may vary, using clang --version to check the current version

  • If only Xcode Command-line Tools is installed

    "C_Cpp.default.systemIncludePath": [
  "/usr/local/include/**",
  "/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/lib/clang/12.0.0/include/**",
  "/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/usr/include/**",
  "/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/include/**",
  "${workspaceFolder}/**"
],
"C_Cpp.default.macFrameworkPath": [
  "/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks"
],
"C_Cpp.default.compilerPath": "/usr/bin/clang",
"C_Cpp.default.intelliSenseMode": "macos-clang-arm64",
"C_Cpp.default.cStandard": "c11",     // or any version preferred
"C_Cpp.default.cppStandard": "c++11"  // or any version preferred

  • If Xcode IDE is installed

    "C_Cpp.default.systemIncludePath": [
  "/usr/local/include/**",
  "/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/lib/clang/12.0.0/include/**",
  "/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/usr/include/**",
  "/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/usr/lib/llvm-gcc/4.2.1/include/**",
  "${workspaceFolder}/**"
],
"C_Cpp.default.macFrameworkPath": [
  "/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks"
],
"C_Cpp.default.compilerPath": "/usr/bin/clang",
"C_Cpp.default.intelliSenseMode": "macos-clang-arm64",
"C_Cpp.default.cStandard": "c11",     // or any version preferred
"C_Cpp.default.cppStandard": "c++11"  // or any version preferred

Other

All include directories found under Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/

$ find . -name "include"
./usr/lib/llvm-gcc/4.2.1/include
./usr/share/xcs/CouchDB/lib/couchdb/erlang/lib/couch-1.7.1/include
./usr/share/xcs/CouchDB/lib/couchdb/erlang/lib/couch_mrview-0.1/include
./usr/share/xcs/CouchDB/lib/couchdb/erlang/lib/couch_replicator-0.1/include
./Platforms/AppleTVOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/AppleTVOS.sdk/usr/include
./Platforms/AppleTVOS.platform/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Profiles/Runtimes/tvOS.simruntime/Contents/Resources/RuntimeRoot/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/GPUCompiler.framework/Libraries/lib/clang/31001.50/include
./Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneOS.sdk/usr/include
./Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Profiles/Runtimes/iOS.simruntime/Contents/Resources/RuntimeRoot/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/GPUCompiler.framework/Libraries/lib/clang/31001.50/include
./Platforms/WatchOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/WatchOS.sdk/usr/include
./Platforms/WatchOS.platform/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Profiles/Runtimes/watchOS.simruntime/Contents/Resources/RuntimeRoot/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/GPUCompiler.framework/Libraries/lib/clang/31001.50/include
./Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/usr/include
./Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/GPUCompiler.framework/Versions/A/lib/clang/3.5/include
./Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.6/usr/include
./Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/OpenCL.framework/Versions/A/lib/clang/3.2/include
./Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/include
./Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Extras/lib/python/numpy/core/include
./Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Extras/lib/python/numpy/numarray/include
./Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Extras/lib/python/PyObjC/pyobjc_core-2.5.1-py2.7.egg-info/include
./Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/DriverKit20.2.sdk/System/DriverKit/usr/include
./Platforms/WatchSimulator.platform/Developer/SDKs/WatchSimulator.sdk/usr/include
./Platforms/AppleTVSimulator.platform/Developer/SDKs/AppleTVSimulator.sdk/usr/include
./Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneSimulator.sdk/usr/include
./Library/Frameworks/Python3.framework/Versions/3.8/include
./Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/metal/macos/lib/clang/31001.160/include
./Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/metal/ios/lib/clang/31001.50/include
./Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/include
./Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/lib/clang/12.0.0/include
./Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/lib/tapi/12.0.0/include

Reference