You can create a files called tasks.json to run commands when opening a project, in my case right now im using  laravel so always a run some commands to start the dev environment, for example to start a project with a php artisan serve you can do:

The file must be on folder  .vscode/tasks.json

Example Content:

{
    "version": "2.0.0",
    "tasks": [
        {
            "label": "launch server",
            "type": "shell",
            "command": "php artisan serve",
            "group": "none",
            "presentation": {
                "echo": true,
                "reveal": "always",
                "focus": false,
                "panel": "shared",
                "showReuseMessage": true,
                "clear": false
            },
            "runOptions": {
                "runOn": "folderOpen"
            }
        }
    ]
}