Projects exercises

When you work on a project exercise, you’ll have access to a complete VS Code development environment. This guide will help you prepare for success and make the most of the available tools and features.

Tutorial

Before starting your test, we strongly encourage you to complete the interactive tutorial. The tutorial will help you familiarize yourself with:

• The VS Code interface and layout
• Available tools and features
• How to customize the environment for your preferences

You can take the tutorial as many times as you want. It is not part of your assessment and won’t affect your results.

Getting started with VS Code

Activity bar

The Activity Bar on the far left gives you access to the core elements of the IDE. You’ll land in the Explorer view, which lists all folders and files in your project, with instructions.md open by default. Read this file first; it describes your goals, constraints, and any setup steps. You can then navigate to other files from the Explorer.

Recommended extensions

Recruiters may include recommended extensions for your project. If so, a notification will appear in the bottom-right corner of the IDE. Click Install to add them.

Terminal

VS Code has an integrated terminal that can be accessed from the Panel area. The integrated terminal is crucial for many project tasks (installing packages and dependencies, running development servers and build tools, executing test suites and scripts, etc.).

Command Palette

The Command Palette provides quick access to all VS Code functions. To open it:

• Windows/Linux: Ctrl + Shift + P
• Mac: Cmd + Shift + P

VS Code settings

You can customize almost every part of VS Code by configuring settings. You can use the Settings Editor to modify the settings in VS Code or directly modify the settings.json file. We recommend adjusting the settings during your tutorial session so that the IDE matches your preferred configuration in terms of shortcuts, themes, accessibility, etc.

For a comprehensive introduction to VS Code, you can check out the official documentation.

CoderPad-specific settings

Quick Access

Within VS Code Activity Bar, you will see a Quick Access entry with a star icon. This menu will help you access key resources for your projects, including:

• Instructions
• Terminal
• Web Preview, if relevant for your project
• AI Assistant, if enabled for your project

Some of these will open automatically when you start your project. If you close them, reopen them from Quick Access at any time.

AI Assistant

If your test enables the AI Assistant, a chat panel will open by default. Use it the way you would at work—to ask questions, generate snippets, or explain errors—and then review and adapt its suggestions. Recruiters enable this because they want to see how you collaborate with AI, so please use the built-in assistant rather than external tools.

Submitting your work

The Submit button sends your completed project for evaluation.

⚠️Please note that only saved files are included in your submission

Before submitting:

1. Save all files: Use Ctrl/Cmd + S on each file or save all with Ctrl/Cmd + K, S
2. Check for unsaved changes: Look for white circles next to filenames
3. Test your solution: Run your code to ensure it works as expected
4. Review requirements: Double-check that you’ve addressed all project requirements

You can save files with one of the following methods:

• Individual file: Ctrl/Cmd + S
• All files: Ctrl/Cmd + K, then S
• Auto-save: Enable in settings for automatic saving