2 files changed, 19 insertions, 2 deletions

diff --git a/editors/code/src/commands/runnables.ts b/editors/code/src/commands/runnables.ts
index 5790252b7..26372c1e8 100644
--- a/editors/code/src/commands/runnables.ts
+++ b/editors/code/src/commands/runnables.ts
@@ -153,6 +153,12 @@ export async function interactivelyStartCargoWatch(
         }
     }
 
+    return startCargoWatch(context);
+}
+
+export async function startCargoWatch(
+    context: vscode.ExtensionContext
+): Promise<CargoWatchProvider | undefined> {
     const execPromise = util.promisify(child_process.exec);
 
     const { stderr } = await execPromise('cargo watch --version').catch(e => e);
@@ -197,5 +203,9 @@ export async function interactivelyStartCargoWatch(
         }
     }
 
-    return registerCargoWatchProvider(context.subscriptions);
+    const provider = await registerCargoWatchProvider(context.subscriptions);
+    if (provider) {
+        provider.start();
+    }
+    return provider;
 }
diff --git a/editors/code/src/extension.ts b/editors/code/src/extension.ts
index b48ad9b29..48dd2a614 100644
--- a/editors/code/src/extension.ts
+++ b/editors/code/src/extension.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,10 @@ import * as lc from 'vscode-languageclient';
 
 import * as commands from './commands';
 import { CargoWatchProvider } from './commands/cargo_watch';
-import { interactivelyStartCargoWatch } from './commands/runnables';
+import {
+    interactivelyStartCargoWatch,
+    startCargoWatch
+} from './commands/runnables';
 import { SyntaxTreeContentProvider } from './commands/syntaxTree';
 import * as events from './events';
 import * as notifications from './notifications';
@@ -134,6 +137,10 @@ export function activate(context: vscode.ExtensionContext) {
     registerCommand('rust-analyzer.startCargoWatch', () => {
         if (provider) {
             provider.start();
+        } else {
+            startCargoWatch(context).then(p => {
+                provider = p;
+            });
         }
     });
     registerCommand('rust-analyzer.stopCargoWatch', () => {