A tasks.vs.json file can be added to an Open Folder project to define any arbitrary task and then invoke it from the Solution Explorer context menu. CMake projects typically do not use this file because all the build commands are specified in CMakeLists.txt. For build systems other than CMake, tasks.vs.json is where you can specify build commands and invoke build scripts. For general information about using tasks.vs.json, see Customize build and debug tasks for "Open Folder" development.

A task has a type property which may have one of four values: default, remote, launch, or msbuild. This value determines what other properties are valid for that task.

When the task type is default, these properties are available:

Remote tasks are enabled when you install the Linux development with C++ workload and add a connection to a remote machine by using the Visual Studio Connection Manager. A remote task runs commands on a remote system and can also copy files to it.

When the task type is remote, these properties are available:

The following task is visible in the middle part of the context menu when you right-click on main.cpp in Solution Explorer. It depends on a remote machine called ubuntu in Connection Manager. The task copies the current open folder in Visual Studio into the sample directory on the remote machine and then invokes g++ to build the program.

{
  "version": "0.2.1",
  "tasks": [
    {
      "taskName": "Build",
      "appliesTo": "main.cpp",
      "type": "remote",
      "contextType": "build",
      "command": "g++ main.cpp",
      "remoteMachineName": "ubuntu",
      "remoteCopyDirectory": "~/sample",
      "remoteCopyMethod": "sftp",
      "remoteWorkingDirectory": "~/sample/hello",
      "remoteCopySourcesOutputVerbosity": "Verbose"
    }
  ]
}

When the task type is launch, these properties are available:

When the task type is msbuild, these properties are available: