VS Code companion for Mac

Read aloud in VS Code on a Mac

Select code, prose or documentation in VS Code, press Option-A, and follow the current spoken word in the editor whilst the Anything Aloud Mac app supplies the voice.

reading-notes.txtPLAIN TEXT SAMPLE

const releaseNote = "Keep the reader beside the document.";

Review checklist:
- Select the lines you want to hear.
- Press Option-A.
- Follow the current word in the editor.

Original sample text for this page. The single colour is deliberate: it is not presented as a real VS Code capture.

Install and start a read

Open the Anything Aloud speaker menu

Anything Aloud runs in the macOS menu bar. It requires macOS 13 or later and an active licence.

Let the companion install itself

With VS Code in your Applications folder, Anything Aloud installs the bundled companion the moment it launches, and again whenever VS Code starts. Nothing to download, no Terminal command and no PATH to set up. A VS Code window that was already open picks it up after Developer: Reload Window; the speaker menu shows whether the companion is installed and connected, and Install VS Code Companion is there if you ever want to run it by hand.

Select text and press Option-A

A selection starts a new read. With no selection, the same shortcut pauses or resumes a loaded read; if nothing is loaded, it reads the current document.

What happens in the editor

During a Mac-app read

The companion sends the selected text to the Mac app over 127.0.0.1, the loopback address for this Mac.
The Mac app speaks with its selected Apple Enhanced or Premium voice.
The companion mirrors the Mac reader's current position as a word highlight in the editor.

Controls that stay in reach

Press Option-A with no selection to pause or resume.
Use Shift-, and Shift-. to change speed.
Click inside a word from the active read to seek to it.

The basic workflow is plain text. The selected characters are what enter the read. The example above makes no claim that the reader analyses a programming language or understands what the code does.

The Mac hand-off described here stays on the Mac through the loopback connection. The VS Code companion also contains separately labelled optional voice and explanation routes; review the privacy policy before choosing any route that uses an external provider.