Develop and deploy your custom tools and feature sets using our comprehensive extensibility resources.
Build your own features and tools with the Visual Studio SDK.
With the SDK, you'll get everything you need to trick out Visual Studio to suit your needs. Maybe you just want to add a few features to make your work life easier – and make your users more productive. Or maybe you have a more complex tool in mind that will change the way developers work.
Whatever it is you dream up, the Visual Studio SDK includes the tools, samples and documentation to create your custom solutions.
After you've built your software module, use the Visual Studio Shell to deploy it as an integrated solution, an isolated application, or both.
Want more information on how to build Visual Studio extensions?
Visit the Visual Studio Extensibility Developer Center to learn how to use the SDK.
Building a business with your solution?
Join the Visual Studio Industry Partner program to get deep technical support and promote your products to millions of developers.
Once you've built your custom tool or solution with the SDK, ship it in the Visual Studio Shell.
The Visual Studio Shell is a streamlined integrated development environment for custom tools and programming languages. The Shell gives you a running start for creating your own custom tools, saving you the work of building an IDE from scratch. And it's FREE*!
If your customers are Visual Studio developers, the Shell's Integrated Mode has been optimized for your needs. Applications built on the integrated Shell will automatically merge with other editions of Visual Studio installed on the same machine. That means developers can use your product within their favorite IDE. Your customers will love the fact that they don't have to switch IDEs to use your tool or language. And your product will benefit from all the goodness Visual Studio can add.
When designing solutions for non-developers – like Project Managers and Designers – the Shell's Isolated Mode lets you create specialized development tools with a graphical user interface. The Isolated Mode is ideal for building tools for specific vertical industries, such as robotic controls for manufacturing or diagnostic systems for hospitals. You can optimize the UI to offer the complexity – or simplicity – your customers want.
Are your customers a mix of developers and non-developers? Consider using both modes of the Visual Studio Shell – you can re-use the same code base while optimizing your product for both audiences.
*internet service charges may apply
Download the Visual Studio Shell
Learn more about the Visual Studio Shell.
Read the Getting Started Guide on MSDN for feature details and help working with the Shell.
Reach a bigger audience – without changing your software.
Every market and every customer has specialized needs, but you can't always give everyone all the features they want. What you can do is embed Visual Studio Tools for Applications (VSTA), a powerful customization toolset that lets your customers add features themselves.
Visual Studio Tools for Applications gives you:
Flexibility with control
Decide which components of the application are open to customization, what view of these components to present, and how to grant access to those components.
Reliable, version-independent customizations
Add-ins can be isolated from the host application for greater reliability. Multiple add-in versions work with multiple versions of your host application, extending the lifespan of customizations.
Standard tools for a broad range of developers
Visual Studio Tools for Applications projects open in Visual Studio, so developers can enhance customizations built by end users. Standard tools facilitate collaboration between internal teams, resellers, systems integrators, and end users.
Built on Visual Studio and the .NET Framework, Visual Studio Tools for Applications makes it easier to write reliable, robust, and secure customizations by providing managed extensibility for both COM and .NET applications. It also includes support for Visual Basic and Visual C#, along with other tools.
Give it a try!
One license is included with the SDK for review purposes. If you don't already have the SDK, download it today.
Add Visual Studio Tools for Applications to your products.
Want to let your users customize your apps? Summit Software handles Visual Studio Tools for Applications licensing. Get it now!
