Create New Project design improvements

[gavin-aguiar]

Summary

This PR introduces a set of features for the Azure Functions VS Code extension focused on the "Create New Project" and "Run Function App" experiences. All new features are gated behind an opt-in setting (azureFunctions.enableTemplateGallery) and do not affect the existing default experience.

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Features

1. Template Gallery (Webview)

A new rich, visual project creation experience that replaces the multi-step Quick Pick wizard with a searchable, filterable template gallery.

• Rich card-based UI with language badges, category tags, and featured template highlights (accent border + star icon)
• Filter by language (Python, .NET, TypeScript, JavaScript, Java, Go, PowerShell) and use case (Web APIs, Event Processing, AI & ML, etc.)
• Full-text search across template names, descriptions, and tags
• AI-powered generation via "Generate with Copilot" mode — describe what you want and get a project scaffold
• Opt-in: Enable via azureFunctions.enableTemplateGallery: true in settings

How to enable:

1. Open Command Palette → Preferences: Open Settings (JSON)
2. Add "azureFunctions.enableTemplateGallery": true
3. Run Azure Functions: Create New Project... to see the gallery

Gallery Discovery from Classic Wizard

Even without the setting enabled, users can discover the gallery via a "Browse Template Gallery..." option at the bottom of the classic language selection Quick Pick.

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2. Run Function App — Smart Pre-Start Steps

The ▶ Run Function App button now performs runtime-specific setup before launching func start:

Runtime	Pre-start steps
Python	Create .venv if missing → pip install -r requirements.txt → func start (with venv activated via pseudoterminal)
Node.js (JS/TS)	npm install → npm run build (if build script exists) → func start
.NET	dotnet build → func start
Other	func start directly

Key technical detail: Python projects use a pseudoterminal to prevent the VS Code Python extension from injecting its own venv activation into the running func start process.

Runtime detection: Reads FUNCTIONS_WORKER_RUNTIME from local.settings.json. Falls back to heuristic detection (package.json → Node, requirements.txt → Python, .csproj/.fsproj → .NET) when the setting is missing.

Project root resolution: Walks upward from the active file's directory to find host.json, supporting projects where source files are in subdirectories (e.g., src/index.ts).

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3. Template Gallery UI Details

Featured Templates

Popular templates are highlighted with an accent left-border and a gold star icon.

Language Filter Chips

Color-coded filter chips with language-specific colors. Order: All → Python → .NET → TypeScript → JavaScript → Java → Go → PowerShell.

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4. Additional Features (in this branch)

• Smart Deploy (src/commands/deploy/SmartDeploy.ts) — Intelligent deployment with pre-deploy validation
• Function App Validator (src/commands/validateFunctionApp/FunctionAppValidator.ts) — Project validation checks
• Copilot Skill Files (resources/skills/) — Contextual guidance for Copilot-assisted development
• Backup Template Manifest (resources/backupProjectTemplates/manifest.json) — Offline fallback for template metadata

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New Settings

Setting	Type	Default	Description
azureFunctions.enableTemplateGallery	boolean	false	Enable the new Template Gallery experience for Create New Project

New Commands

Command	Description
azureFunctions.runFunctionApp	Smart Run Function App with runtime-specific setup

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Files Changed

27 files changed (+7,141 / -19)

New files:

• src/commands/createNewProject/TemplateGalleryPanel.ts — Webview panel controller
• src/commands/createNewProject/CloneTemplateStep.ts — Template cloning wizard step
• src/commands/createNewProject/PostCloneStep.ts — Post-clone setup step
• src/commands/createNewProject/StartingPointStep.ts — Template vs scratch wizard step
• src/commands/createNewProject/TemplateListStep.ts — Template list wizard step
• src/commands/runFunctionApp/RunFunctionApp.ts — Smart Run Function App command
• src/commands/deploy/SmartDeploy.ts — Smart deployment logic
• src/commands/validateFunctionApp/FunctionAppValidator.ts — Project validator
• src/templates/projectTemplates/IProjectTemplate.ts — Template type definitions
• src/templates/projectTemplates/ProjectTemplateProvider.ts — Template data provider
• resources/webviews/templateGallery/ — Webview HTML, JS, CSS
• resources/backupProjectTemplates/manifest.json — Offline template manifest
• resources/skills/ — Copilot skill files

Modified files:

• src/commands/createNewProject/createNewProject.ts — Feature flag branching
• src/commands/createNewProject/NewProjectLanguageStep.ts — Gallery discovery option
• src/commands/createNewProject/IProjectWizardContext.ts — Extended context interface
• src/commands/registerCommands.ts — New command registrations
• src/extension.ts — Extension activation
• src/extensionVariables.ts — Extension variables
• src/vsCodeConfig/verifyInitForVSCode.ts — VS Code config verification
• src/vsCodeConfig/verifyVSCodeConfigOnActivate.ts — Activation config check
• package.json — Settings, commands, menus, version
• package.nls.json — Localization strings

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR adds a new opt-in “Create New Project” template gallery (webview + template manifest provider) and introduces smarter local workflows (Run Function App pre-start steps, Copilot-based validation, and Smart Deploy) to improve project creation, run, validate, and deploy experiences in the Azure Functions VS Code extension.

Changes:

• Added a template-gallery-driven project creation flow (webview UI + remote/bundled manifest provider + clone/copy steps).
• Added new commands: Run Function App (runtime-aware setup), Validate Function App (Copilot + diagnostics), and Smart Deploy (AZD-aware routing).
• Improved activation/init behavior by detecting and persisting the project language model when missing.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 27 out of 28 changed files in this pull request and generated 12 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
src/vsCodeConfig/verifyVSCodeConfigOnActivate.ts	Detects and persists projectLanguageModel during activation when missing.
src/vsCodeConfig/verifyInitForVSCode.ts	Detects and persists projectLanguageModel during init verification when missing.
src/templates/projectTemplates/ProjectTemplateProvider.ts	Fetches/merges/caches template manifests and filters templates by language/model.
src/templates/projectTemplates/IProjectTemplate.ts	Defines template/manifest types used by the template gallery and wizard flow.
src/extensionVariables.ts	Adds a shared diagnostic collection handle to extension globals.
src/extension.ts	Initializes and disposes the Azure Functions diagnostic collection on activation.
src/commands/validateFunctionApp/FunctionAppValidator.ts	Implements Copilot-based project validation and publishes results as VS Code diagnostics.
src/commands/runFunctionApp/RunFunctionApp.ts	Adds runtime-aware “Run Function App” behavior (venv/npm/dotnet build + func start).
src/commands/registerCommands.ts	Registers new commands (validate, smart deploy, run function app).
src/commands/deploy/SmartDeploy.ts	Adds deploy routing logic (AZD-aware) while delegating to existing deploy where appropriate.
src/commands/createNewProject/TemplateListStep.ts	Adds Quick Pick template selection (category-grouped) for the wizard template flow.
src/commands/createNewProject/TemplateGalleryPanel.ts	Implements the template gallery webview controller, template cloning, and AI project creation.
src/commands/createNewProject/StartingPointStep.ts	Adds “template vs scratch” starting point step to the classic wizard flow.
src/commands/createNewProject/PostCloneStep.ts	Adds post-clone analysis (Bicep/README detection) and follow-up notifications.
src/commands/createNewProject/NewProjectLanguageStep.ts	Adds a “Browse Template Gallery…” discovery option in the classic language picker.
src/commands/createNewProject/IProjectWizardContext.ts	Extends wizard context with template-flow-specific properties.
src/commands/createNewProject/createNewProject.ts	Branches between classic wizard and new gallery flow based on an opt-in setting.
src/commands/createNewProject/CloneTemplateStep.ts	Adds a wizard execute step to clone/copy a template repo (including sparse checkout).
resources/webviews/templateGallery/styles.css	Adds styling for the template gallery and AI generation UI.
resources/webviews/templateGallery/main.js	Implements template gallery filtering, selection, and AI-generation UX in the webview.
resources/webviews/templateGallery/index.html	Static template gallery HTML used as a webview resource.
resources/skills/functionapp.md	Adds common (all runtimes) validator “skill” rules/prompting schema.
resources/skills/python.md	Adds Python-specific validator rules/prompting guidance.
resources/backupProjectTemplates/manifest.json	Adds an offline fallback template manifest.
package.json	Contributes new commands/menus and new project template settings; adds codicons dependency.
package.nls.json	Adds localized strings for new commands and project template settings.
package-lock.json	Updates lockfile for new dependency additions and version bump.
.vscodeignore	Ensures codicons assets are packaged for the webview.