Shims and PATH

Understand where runtimes live on disk and how vs builds an execution environment.

vs manages runtime resolution through install directories, optional links, and PATH updates.

Home layout

The shell crate models these top-level directories inside $VS_HOME:

registry/
plugins/
cache/
shims/
sessions/
global/

Installed runtimes

Installed runtime trees live under:

$VS_HOME/cache/<plugin>/versions/<version>

Current links

Global scope uses a current link when a version is activated globally:

$VS_HOME/cache/<plugin>/current

Project scope can create a project-local link:

<project>/.vs/sdks/<plugin>

If you activate project scope with --unlink, vs still records the version in .vs.toml, but it skips the project-local symlink.

PATH behavior

When vs prepares an execution environment, it prepends each active runtime bin/ directory ahead of the inherited PATH.

In practice, the precedence is:

project-selected runtime
session-selected runtime
global-selected runtime
existing system PATH

The home layout includes a shims/ directory, but the current implementation is primarily link- and PATH-based. In other words, the active runtime experience today is driven by selected install directories and shell updates rather than by a generated shim layer.

Direct execution

Shell activation is optional when you just want to run a command through a resolved runtime:

vs exec nodejs node -v