Prerequisites for Visual Studio
Before installation, you'll need:
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PiecesOS: The main engine that powers Pieces for Visual Studio functionality. Learn more about PiecesOS.
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Visual Studio: Visual Studio is installed on your development machine.
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Windows: Visual Studio is no longer available on macOS and is exclusively designed and maintained for Windows devices.
PiecesOS must be installed to enable the Pieces for Visual Studio Extension. We also recommend the Pieces for Developers Desktop App for enhanced functionality.
Installation
Extensions
Open Visual Studio and navigate to the Extensions view in your toolbar
Search for the Pieces Extension
Search for Pieces for Visual Studio and click Install
Restart
Restart Visual Studio after installing the extension to complete the setup
Use the Pieces for Visual Studio Extension
Once you’ve restarted Visual Studio, the Pieces Account, Pieces Copilot and Pieces Drive view will automatically open as docked tabs in your Solution Explorer view
Alternatively, you can download the .VSIX installer from the Visual Studio Marketplace and install it manually.
Setting Up PiecesOS
PiecesOS is a background service that runs on your computer. It handles local data processing and manages custom machine learning (ML) models used in Pieces software.
To use the Pieces for Visual Studio Extension, you must install PiecesOS on your operating system.
Click below to download PiecesOS for Windows.
Windows 10 (20H0) or higher required
Click here for alternative PiecesOS installation methods, or install the PiecesOS and the Pieces Desktop App together for Windows.
For enhanced security and better system integration, we recommend installing the .exe version, as more security protocols recognize and accept .exe files more than .appinstaller packages.
Updating
The Pieces for Visual Studio Extension will automatically update when a new version is available.
The Auto Update setting is enabled by default.
Pieces Cloud / Pieces Account
Connecting to the Pieces Cloud is optional. However, it provides additional features like data backups, shareable links, and more. You can enjoy the main functionalities of Pieces without an account.
You can log into your account and connect to the Pieces Cloud from the Pieces Account view, a tab which can be found next to the Solution Explorer view in your IDE’s sidebar.
From here, you can click Sign In / Sign Out under the Account section, or Connect / Disconnect under the Cloud section.
Connecting your Pieces account and personal cloud allows you to access features like data backups and shareable links, but it is not required.
Uninstallation
To uninstall the Pieces for Visual Studio Extension, follow these steps:
Extensions
Open Visual Studio and navigate to the Extensions view in your toolbar
Search for the Pieces Extension
Search for Pieces for Visual Studio or navigate to the Installed tab and find the Pieces Extension in your list of installed extensions then click Uninstall.
Restart
Restart Visual Studio after uninstalling the extension to complete the uninstallation process