Loading custom dictionaries from a remote source (e.g. from a GitHub Gist)

[PaulRBerg]

Hi, I love this VSCode extension, been using it for 3+ years now. My only problem is the large list of custom words that have accumulated under the cSpell.userWords field in my global VSCode settings.

Now, I know that there is an option to create a local custom dictionary on disk - I did read the How to add your own Dictionaries settings. But I would like to know if it would be possible to load the dictionary from a remote source, such as a GitHub Gist? I would prefer not to have to remember to transfer my custom dictionary when I switch to a new laptop.

[pcuci]

Hi @PaulRBerg—great idea!

My temporary workaround is to rely on: https://github.com/streetsidesoftware/vscode-spell-checker?tab=readme-ov-file#define-the-dictionary and store the custom dictionaries in my dotfiles. Since I take these with me all over the place anyway it's almost as convenient as your idea.

Bonus: I can add new terms directly from any of my projects in any of the custom dictionaries—which I don't know how you'd achieve with a gist(?)

[PaulRBerg]

Thanks for your feedback — I ended up doing something similar. I created a separate repo for keeping track of my custom dictionary. I need to remember to store the dictionary at the same path on all devices, but it works for now.

[Jason3S]

Support for remote configuration was added in CSpell 8 and the v4 of this extension.

See: CSpell Gist Based Config.

As @pcuci points out, the extension cannot support adding words to the remote word list.

[Jason3S]

Gist Based CSpell Config

This is an example of a CSpell configuration stored in a gist.

There are two opitons:

1. Just having the dictionary in a gist.
2. Having the entire configuration in the gist.

Using just a dictionary file from Gist

1. Get the raw url of dictionary file.
2. Reference the dictionary file in the dictionaryDefinitions of the CSpell Config.

cspell.cofnig.yaml

dictionaryDefinitions:
  - name: gist-dict
    path: https://gist.githubusercontent.com/Jason3S/6a88fd2993f4139a567787f4e5e19f40/raw/dictionary.txt
dictionaries:
  - gist-dict

Using the configuration from Gist

1. Get the raw url of the configuration file stored in the Gist.
2. Add the url to the import section of the cspell configuration.

cspell.config.yaml

import:
  - https://gist.githubusercontent.com/Jason3S/6a88fd2993f4139a567787f4e5e19f40/raw/cspell.config.yaml