ABAP Development Tools For Visual Studio Code: You...

With the general availability of ABAP development tools for Visual Studio Code – the ABAP community has a lot of questions. Here are answers to the most common ones, covering everything from strategy and scope to AI integration and setup.

General Questions

Q1: What is ABAP development tools for Visual Studio Code, and why are we building it?

ADT for Visual Studio Code is SAP's official extension that brings full ABAP development capabilities into Visual Studio Code. Based on user surveys from 2023 and 2025, Visual Studio Code was consistently the most-requested development environment in the ABAP community ahead of JetBrains, Neovim, and others. We are delivering on that request.

The extension is not a rewrite from scratch. It is powered by the same codebase that drives ADT for Eclipse which means you get the same backend connectivity and the same reliability, just in a new IDE.

Q2: Will ADT for Visual Studio Code replace ADT for Eclipse?

No. ADT for Visual Studio Code is an additional option, not a replacement.

Visual Studio Code is known for its lightweight, file-centric workflows. But for larger, more complex projects that require powerful IDE features, Eclipse remains the right tool.

Eclipse remains the recommended IDE for full-featured ABAP development until ADT for Visual Studio Code reaches feature parity. Developers can choose whichever environment fits their workflow and because both are powered by the same underlying codebase, neither is left behind. A good example for this is the ADT MCP server. It runs in the core layer and offers the same MCP tools in both VS Code and Eclipse.

See related blog post: Entering the New Era (ADT for VS Code section)

Q3: Will the extension be open source?

Not at this time, though it is something we would like to pursue in the future. The challenge is that the ADT for Visual Studio Code's extension layer itself is intentionally thin. Most code lives in the ABAP language server, a Java-based component shared with Eclipse that contains millions of lines of code. Open sourcing that would be a major undertaking.

What is under discussion is releasing the Language Server as a standalone component. Once available, it would open up a wide range of possibilities: custom CLIs, third-party tooling integrations, community-built extensions, and more.

For more information about the architecture behind ADT for Visual Studio Code, see the Behind the Design blog post.

Features and Scope

Q4: What features are available in the first release?

The first release is scoped around SAP Fiori development with ABAP RESTful Application Programming Model (RAP), covering 12+ object types and the essential IDE tools to develop, test, and debug RAP-based applications. Alongside the editor tooling, the extension ships with the ADT MCP Server, enabling coding agents to interact with ABAP systems and perform development tasks directly from the IDE.

For the full and up-to-date scope, see the official documentation.

Q5: What is not in scope, and what is the long-term plan?

The first release is deliberately focused on RAP UI Services development. Two things are explicitly out of scope:

Classic ABAP UI programming models (Dynpro, Web Dynpro, etc.).
SAP GUI integration. There are currently no plans to embed the SAP GUI.

For anything outside the RAP UI service development flow, ADT for Eclipse remains the primary tool to use until the VS Code extension has caught up to it.

The long-term goal is full feature parity with ADT for Eclipse. That won't happen overnight. It took 16 years to build Eclipse to its current scope but the shared Language Server architecture makes the catch-up significantly faster than starting from scratch. Community feedback will actively shape what gets prioritized.

Q6: What ABAP backend versions are supported?

ADT for Visual Studio Code uses the same codebase as ADT for Eclipse, so it supports the same backend releases. If you are currently using ADT for Eclipse, you can use ADT for Visual Studio Code with the same system. This includes on-premise systems down to SAP NetWeaver 7.3 EHP1 SP04 and above. No special backend upgrade is required.

Q7: What about ABAP Cleaner support?

We know how much the community loves the ABAP Cleaner. Adding support is already in the product backlog and we will invest time in bringing ABAP Cleaner to VS Code via the open source project.

Architecture

Q8: How does ADT for Visual Studio Code work under the hood? Is it Eclipse inside Visual Studio Code?

ADT for Visual Studio Code is running on a new ABAP language server, which is built on millions of lines of client-side code that has always powered ADT for Eclipse. This is the same approach the Visual Studio Code Java extension uses (it's essentially Eclipse JDT running as a Language Server).

This architecture has three key benefits:

Eclipse and Visual Studio Code stay in sync automatically: The same codebase serves both IDEs.
All backend releases already supported by Eclipse work in Visual Studio Code: The existing client compatibility layer is 100% getting re-used.
Object type support scales efficiently: Re-using our existing server-driven development framework means only two rendering engines (one for form-based objects editors, one for source-based editors) are needed instead of many separate custom editors.

See related blog post: Behind the Design

Q9: Why does it use a virtual file system instead of saving ABAP files locally?

Because ABAP code lives on the ABAP server, not on your local disk, a virtual workspace is the only viable approach. There is no way around it given ABAP's remote-first nature.

That said, Visual Studio Code's virtual workspace support is significantly more mature than Eclipse's equivalent (EFS).

Q10: Why is all object editing in ADT for Visual Studio Code file-based, and why does that matter?

Visual Studio Code is, at its core, a file editor. All object type editing in ADT for Visual Studio Code is built around ABAP file formats, which means every ABAP object you work on is represented as a file in the virtual workspace.

This matters for two reasons. First, it aligns ABAP development with how modern developers expect tooling to work. Everything is a file based and diff-friendly. Second, and more importantly, AI tools work best in file-based environments. Predictive code completion, context understanding, and agentic coding loops all rely on being able to read and write files. By going fully file-based, ADT for Visual Studio Code ensures ABAP developers can get the most out of every AI tool in the Visual Studio Code ecosystem.

Q11: Will SAP Joule for Developers features come to ADT for Visual Studio Code?

Yes. SAP Joule for Developers features are coming to Visual Studio Code, starting with the ADT MCP server and predictive code completion, with more capabilities to follow over time.

AI Integration

Q12: Which AI coding tools and agents work with ADT for Visual Studio Code?

Any coding agent that supports Visual Studio Code's virtual workspace filesystem can read and edit ABAP files. Currently confirmed to work with GitHub Copilot, promising results with Cursor and likely more as the ecosystem evolves.

All of these agents can also be configured to use different LLMs, including Claude, for ABAP assistance development.

Q13: Can I use Claude Code or other standalone AI agents with the ADT MCP Server?

The MCP Server for ABAP development currently runs bundled within the ADT for Visual Studio Code extension. This means it only runs while Visual Studio Code is running. For CLIs like Claude Code that operate outside Visual Studio Code, it is more desirable to launch the server independently.

It is under discussion to release the Language Server (and with it, the MCP Server) as a standalone component in a future release.

In the meantime, Visual Studio Code is the recommended environment for using the MCP Server for ABAP development with any coding agent that supports virtual workspace filesystem.

However, technically it is possible to connect the MCP server to any MCP client. See the official documentation for more details.

Q14: Do I need an `agents.md` file for using AI agents with ABAP?

Yes, in order to get most of your AI agent it is highly recommended to create a custom AGENTS.md file. It allows providing additional project specific context such as coding conventions or how to use certain MCP tools. The official documentation provides a template that helps you get started.

Setup and Getting Started

Q15: How do I get started with ADT for Visual Studio Code?

Open the official extension page on the Visual Studio Marketplace and install the extension from there.
The RAP130 tutorial on GitHub is the recommended starting point. It walks you through building a RAP-based Fiori app from scratch and it is designed around an agentic loop. This makes it the ideal way to experience and get a first feeling what ADT for Visual Studio Code and the ADT MCP Server can do together.

For installation, system setup, and a full feature reference, see the official documentation.

Q16: Where can I find the ADT for Visual Studio Code feature roadmap?

Two resources to bookmark: