Unreal Engine Mac - VS Code IntelliSense & Include Path Errors

[Arthurmtro]

Subject:

Description:
I have created a new Unreal Engine project using the Third-Person Template (C++) on macOS.
When I open VS Code , I immediately encounter the following error messages:

1. #include errors detected. Consider updating your compile_commands.json or includePath. Squiggles are disabled for this translation unit.
2. cannot open source file "initializer_list" (dependency of "/Users/arthurmonteiro/Developer/Games/Unreal/MultiplayerCourse/Intermediate/Build/Mac/arm64/MultiplayerCourseEditor/Development/UnrealEd/SharedPCH.UnrealEd.Project.ValApi.Cpp20.h") C/C++(1696)

Screenshots:

note that it doesn’t block compilation on Unreal

but I’m not able to have errors, autocomplete and such on IDE:

Steps to Reproduce:

1. On Mac, unreal 5.5.2
2. Create a new Unreal Engine project ( Third-Person Template, C++ ).
3. Open the project folder in VS Code .
4. The errors appear immediately in the Problems tab.

System Information:

• MacBook Model:
  

• Unreal Engine Version: UE 5.5.2

c_cpp_properties.json Configuration:

{
  "configurations": [
    {
      "name": "MultiplayerCourseEditor Editor Mac Development (MultiplayerCourse)",
      "compilerPath": "/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/clang++",
      "compilerArgs": [
        "-isysroot",
        "/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk"
      ],
      "macFrameworkPath": [
        "/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks"
      ],
      "cStandard": "c17",
      "cppStandard": "c++20",
      "intelliSenseMode": "clang-x64",
      "compileCommands": [
        "/Users/arthurmonteiro/Developer/Games/Unreal/MultiplayerCourse/.vscode/compileCommands_MultiplayerCourse.json"
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "Mac",
      "compilerPath": "/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/clang++",
      "compilerArgs": [
        "-isysroot",
        "/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk"
      ],
      "macFrameworkPath": [
        "/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks"
      ],
      "cStandard": "c17",
      "cppStandard": "c++20",
      "intelliSenseMode": "clang-x64",
      "compileCommands": [
        "/Users/arthurmonteiro/Developer/Games/Unreal/MultiplayerCourse/.vscode/compileCommands_Default.json"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "version": 4
}

Troubleshooting Steps Taken:

Verified Xcode installation ( xcode-select --install )
Set correct Xcode path ( sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer )
Checked if initializer_list exists in standard library ( find /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools -name "initializer_list" )
Tried regenerating compile_commands.json ( GenerateProjectFiles.sh -project=... )
Deleted Unreal’s Intermediate , Binaries , and DerivedDataCache folders and rebuilt
Reset VS Code IntelliSense

I would appreciate any guidance on resolving this issue. Thanks in advance!

Best,

[beegeedee]

Sorry, I don’t have access to a Mac but is it a C++ Unreal issue (can you compile code) or is it VS Code Intellisense issue?

If it is the latter, generally nowaways VS Code is considered a big red flag. You can now, for personal use, Get Rider for free from JetBrains which is vastly superior and will work on Macs just as well as PC and Linux where I’ve had experience with.

If it is something else, I’m not familiar with Macs and none of the team has one but I know there are a few Mac users on the Discord who may be able to advise.