Is it possible to use TinyMist with VSCode portable?

[Chris1]

Typst works fine with VSCode when I install it on my home computer. However on my work computer will not allow me to install executable files so I’ve been using a portable version of VSCode from a usb. I am able to open VSCode and install Tinymist fine, however when I want to preview the pdf file I get the following error

crates\tinymist\src\task\export.rs:374:13: ExportTask(ExportPdf(ExportPdfTask { export: ExportTask { when: Never, output: Some(PathPattern(“”)), transform: }, pages: None, pdf_standards: , no_pdf_tags: false, creation_timestamp: None })): output path is relative: “Untitled-1”

Is there something else I should be doing?

[Y.D.X]

Untitled-1

Have you tried to save the file first?

I once encountered a similar error on my home computer, and it turned out that I have to save the file before starting the preview.

At that time I contacted the authors of tinymist. They replied that previewing Untitled-n files could be supported, but was never tested seriously (say, what does image("a.png") in an Untitled file mean?). Therefore, the relevant code path was disabled. If more people want to use this feature, tinymist is open to support that.
(Be aware that the conversation happened months ago. I don’t know if the situation has changed.)

[Chris1]

Saving seems to work ok on my home computer however on my work computer I get a different error message which is

Cannot find a valid tinymist binary. Some features like auto-formatting on Enter may not work. Please check your tinymist.serverPath configuration. Exception: Error: Could not find a valid tinymist binary.
Bundled (‘d:\VSCode-win32-x64-1.124.2\data\extensions\myriad-dreamin.tinymist-0.15.2-win32-x64\out\tinymist.exe’): failed to probe:
error: spawnSync d:\VSCode-win32-x64-1.124.2\data\extensions\myriad-dreamin.tinymist-0.15.2-win32-x64\out\tinymist.exe UNKNOWN
In PATH (‘tinymist.exe’): failed to probe:
error: spawnSync tinymist.exe ENOENT

I’m not sure if it is looking in the wrong place and there is a way I can update the path?

[Y.D.X]

I guess d:\ is where you mounted the USB?

error: spawnSync tinymist.exe ENOENT

If I remember correctly, that d:\VSCode-win32-x64-1.124.2\data\extensions\myriad-dreamin.tinymist-0.15.2-win32-x64\out\tinymist.exe should be downloaded automatically when installing the VS Code extension. Usually there’s no need to change the path.

Could you check if that file exists and is valid? Execute path/to/tinymist.exe --version in PowerShell, and it should output something like the following.

…/myriad-dreamin.tinymist-0.15.2-win32-x64> ./out/tinymist.exe --version
tinymist
Build Timestamp:     2026-06-22T10:34:37.975175300Z
Build Git Describe:  v0.15.2
Commit SHA:          92babed1bc00540882effd29bc56ebc5986792c2
Commit Date:         None
Commit Branch:       None
Cargo Target Triple: x86_64-pc-windows-msvc
Typst Version:       0.15.0
Typst Source:        git+https://github.com/Myriad-Dreamin/typst.git?tag=tinymist/v0.15.0#391c2dcd698aabf2917db0336868d16f197057d9

Additionally, you might find more debugging info in VS Code’s Output panel: press Ctrl+Shift+U and then choose Tinymist Typst.

By the way, in December 2024, someone met the same problem and resolved it by upgrading to the latest version. See Tinymist v0.12.12 - Unable to start in VSCode - Win32-x64 · Issue #1025 · Myriad-Dreamin/tinymist · GitHub.
Perhaps you can try uninstall and reinstall the extension? That should trigger the downloading process again and might fix the problem.

[Chris1]

So when I navigate to that exe file and open it I get a message that says

D:\VSCode-win32-x64-1.124.2\data\extensions\myriad-dreamin.tinymist-0.15.2-win32-x64\out\tinymist.exe

Contact your support person for more info.

I thought that since it was being entirely from my USB that it would be OK on my work computer.

Is there a workaround for this?

[Y.D.X]

I’m not sure, but perhaps you can try to download a standalone tinymist.exe.
To do so, visit Release v0.15.2 · Myriad-Dreamin/tinymist · GitHub, click Download Binary, scroll to Download tinymist 0.15.2, and choose x64 Windows. If tinymist.exe in the downloaded ZIP can be executed on your work computer, then there might be a way to let VS Code use that.

[Electron_Wizard]

In fact you can, in the settings there’s the entry Tinymist: Server Path

But I’m not sure if relative paths are possible…

[Wei]

Try this Typst Ultra - Visual Studio Marketplace
it’s a pure WASM version which is portable and it doesn’t need any external binaries to be installed on your computer.