Most Popular VSCode Extensions Worldwide
A comprehensive and complete list of the most installed and used VSCode extensions, recommended by myself and others.
Last updated in June 2024 - Updates again in 6 months
Contribute or Fork on Github: https://github.com/eduardocgarza/top-vscode-extensions
According to a StackOverflow 2023 survey, 73% of developers report VSCode as their primary code editor. If we were talking about monopolies, companies and market shares, this would be an astounding number! In fact, we can truly think of the situation as such since VSCode has ultimately become the primary destination for software development given its extensive ecosystem.
Many of the videos and blogs I have found on the Internet for the most popular VSCode extensions tend to be very shallow and just regurgitations of one-another.
The objective with this blog post is to attend to this matter and create a comprehensive and complete summary of the best VSCode extensions that you will find to improve your development experience.
First Things First - VSCode Marketplace
The VSCode Extensions Marketplace can be found either on the Visual Studio website (click me) or embeded into your VSCode application.
Option 1 - VSCode Extensions Marketplace at the Visual Studio Website
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/vscode
Option 2 - VSCode Extensions Marketplace inside your VSCode Application
We cannot explore extensions for every programming language, so we’ve decided to focus on the most popular ones: web and extensions and React for Front-End; backend extensions and Python/Node; databases, dev-ops, as well as general extensions for all developers.
Categories
General
Systems
Code Formatting
Editor Customization
Version Control Management
HTML and CSS
Javascript and Typescript
React
Back-End
Python
Other Languages
Markdown
Databases
Dev-Ops
Category 1 - General Tools
Code Time
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=softwaredotcom.swdc-vscode
Creator: Software
530,00 installs
Track development metrics (coding activity time averages)
Data visualizations (view habits and averages)
Bookmarks
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=alefragnani.Bookmarks
Creator: Alessandro Fragnani
3.6 million installs
Mark lines and jump to them
Mark and unmark positions in your code with named ‘bookmarks’
Jump forward and backward between bookmarks or directly to them
Name That Color
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=guillaumedoutriaux.name-that-color
Guillaume Doutriaux
18,000 installs
Get a HEX color representation preview
Category 2 - Systems
Remote - SSH
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh
Creator: Microsoft
21 million installs
Use any remote machine with a SSH server as the development environment
No source code needed - simply run the command
Instructions
Install extension
Install an OpenSSH compatible SSH client
F1 and run Remote-SSH > OpenSSH Host
Enter the user and host / IP
Vim
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=vscodevim.vim
Creator: vscodevim
6.4 million installs
Vim emulation for VSCode
WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-vscode-remote.remote-wsl
Creator: Microsoft
Open any folder on the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)
Linux-based tools available on Windows through a Linux CLI
Category 3 - Code Formatting
Prettier
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=esbenp.prettier-vscode
Creator: Prettier
46 million installs
Code formatter
Enforced consistent style
Automatically formats your code to make it more readable
Supports many languages
Highly customizable settings
ESLint
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=dbaeumer.vscode-eslint
Creator: Microsoft
36 million installs
Integrates ESLint Javascript into VSCode
ESLint analyzes code and comes built-in to most text editors
Identifies and fixes problems in your JavaScript code
Supports various JavaScript flavors (e.g., TypeScript, React)
Configurable rules to match your coding standards
Better Comments
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=aaron-bond.better-comments
Creator: Aaron Bond
7 million installs
Improve code commenting by annotating with alert, informational TODOs and more
Types - Alerts, Queries, TODOs, Highlights, Commented Out Code
Syntax highlighting for the different types of comments
Git Lens
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=eamodio.gitlens
Creator: GitKraken
33 million installs
Enhanced visualizations of Git inside VSCode
Blame, CodeLens, Hovers - Learn how code changed and from who with code annotations and hovers
File Annotations - Toggle on-demand whole file annotations to see authorship and changes
Revision Navigation - Explore the history of a file
Commit Graph (Paid) - Visualize repository and keep track of all progress
Code Spell Checker
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=streetsidesoftware.code-spell-checker
Creator: Street Side Software
11 million installs
Spelling checker for source code
Basic words
Supports multiple languages
JSON Tools
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=eriklynd.json-tools
Creator: Erik Lynd
1 million installs
Tools for manipulating JSON - prettify and minify
shell-format
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=foxundermoon.shell-format
Creator: foxundermoon
1.6 million installs
Formatter for shell scripts, Dockerfile, gitignore, dotenv, /etc/hosts, jvmoptions and more
Intended primary for formatting systems programming files
Category 4 - Editor Customization
Peacock
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=johnpapa.vscode-peacock
Creator: John Papa
3 million installs
Change the workspace color
Ideal when multiple VSCode instances are running
Material Icon Theme
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=PKief.material-icon-theme
Creator: Philipp Kief
24 million installs
Material Design Icons for VSCode
Get folder and file icons for VSCode projects
vscode-icons
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=vscode-icons-team.vscode-icons
Creator: VSCode Icons Team
18.3 million installs
Icons for directories and files
Category 5 - Version Control Management
Github Copilot
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=GitHub.copilot
Creator: Github
17 million installs
AI pair programmer
Github Copilot Chat
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=GitHub.copilot-chat
Creator: Github
12 million installs
AI chat features powered by CoPilot
Github Actions
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=GitHub.vscode-github-actions
Creator: Github
2.1 million installs
Workflows and runs for github.com hosted repositories inside VSCode
Manage workflows - track CI builds and deployments
View the workflow run history
Git History
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=donjayamanne.githistory
Creator: Don Jayamanne
11.5 million installs
View git log, file history, compare branches or commits
View and search git log along with the graph
View previous copies of a file
View and search history
Compare branches, commits, files across commits
Category 6 - HTML and CSS
HTML Snippets
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=abusaidm.html-snippets
Creator: Mohamed Abusaid
10.3 million installs
Full HTML tags, including HTML5 snippets
Live Server
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ritwickdey.LiveServer
Creator: Ritwick Dey
50 million installs
Launch a development local server with live reload for static and dynamic pages
Live browser reload
Start and stop server with single click
CSS Peek
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=pranaygp.vscode-css-peek
Creator: Pranay Prakash
5.8 million installs
Peeking to CSS ID and class strings as definitions from HTML files to respective CSS
Allows peek and goto definition for HTML/CSS
vscode-styled-components
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=styled-components.vscode-styled-components
Creator: Styled Components
1.3 million installs
Syntax highlighting for styled-components
Category 7 - JavaScript and TypeScript
JavaScript (ES6) code snippets
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=xabikos.JavaScriptSnippets
Creator: Charalampos Karypidis
16 million installs
Code snippets for Javascript in ES6 syntax
Auto Import
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=steoates.autoimport
Creator: steoates
4 million installs
Automatically finds, parses and provides code actions and code completion for all imports
Works with Typescript and TSX
TypeScript Hero
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=rbbit.typescript-hero
Creator: Christoph Buhler
1.5 million installs
Sort and organize imports - sort and remove unused
Code outline view of your open TS/TSX document
Category 8 - React
ES7+ React/Redux/React-Native Snippets
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=dsznajder.es7-react-js-snippets
Creator: Dsznajder
12 million installs
Code snippets for React Native, React, Redux and more
React Native Tools
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=msjsdiag.vscode-react-native
Creator: Microsoft
4.5 million installs
Debugging and integrated commands for React Native
React Native / React / Redux Snippets for ES6 / ES7
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=EQuimper.react-native-react-redux
Creator: EQuimper
1.5 million installs
Code snippets for React Native, React, Redux and more
Tailwind CSS IntelliSense
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=bradlc.vscode-tailwindcss
Creator: Tailwind Labs
6.5 million installs
Intelligent Tailwind CSS tooling for VSCode
Autocompletion
Syntax highlighting
Linting
Hover preview
Category 9 - Back-End
REST Client
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=humao.rest-client
Creator: Huachao Mao
4.7 million installs
Send HTTP requests directly from VSCode.
Supports various HTTP methods and custom headers
Great for testing APIs without leaving the editor
npm Intellisense
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=christian-kohler.npm-intellisense
Creator: Christian Kohler
8 million installs
Autocompletes npm modules in import statements for Node
Category 10 - Python
Python
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-python.python
Creator: Microsoft
126 million installs
Python language support with extension access points for IntelliSense (Pylance), Debugging (Python Debugger), linting, formatting, refactoring, unit tests and more
Provides pluggable access points for formatters and linters
Features
IntelliSense - Edit your code with auto-completion, navigation, syntax checking
Linting - Code analysis with Pylint, Flake8, or others
Code Formatting - Format with black, autopep or yapf
Debugging - Scripts, web apps, remote or multi-threaded processes
Testing - With the Test Explorer using unittest or pytest
Jupyter Notebooks
Environments using virtualenv, venv, pipenv, conda and pyenv environments
Refactoring
Pylance
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-python.vscode-pylance
Creator: Microsoft
99 million installs
Language server for Python
An extension that works with Python in VSCode to provide language support
Pylance is the default language support for Python in VSCode extension
Features
Docstrings
Signature help, with type information
Parameter suggestions
Code completion
Auto-imports (as well as add and remove import code actions)
As-you-type reporting of code errors and warnings (diagnostics)
Code outline
Code navigation
Type checking mode
Native multi-root workspace support
IntelliCode compatibility
Jupyter Notebooks compatibility
Semantic highlighting
Python Debugger
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-python.debugpy
Creator: Microsoft
34 million installs
Python Debugger extension using debugpy
Set breakpoints
Step through code
Inspect variables
Perform essential debugging tasks
Black Formatter
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-python.black-formatter
Creator: Microsoft
3 million installs
Formatting support for Python files using the Black formatter
Integrated formatting configurations
Format on save
Jupyter
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-toolsai.jupyter
Creator: Microsoft
79 million installs
Notebook support and interactive programming
Jupyter Cell Tags
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-toolsai.vscode-jupyter-cell-tags
Creator: Microsoft
41 million installs
Jupyter Cell Tags support for VSCode
Provides support for notebook cell tags
Add multiple tags to the cell you’re opening
Modify the tags in JSON format
Add slide types to notebook cells with Jupyter SlideShow extension
Jupyter Notebook Renderers
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-toolsai.jupyter-renderers
Creator: Microsoft
60 million installs
Renderers for Jupyter Notebooks
Uses plotly, vega, gif, png, svg, jpeg and other options
Jupyter SlideShow
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-toolsai.vscode-jupyter-slideshow
Creator: Microsoft
41 million installs
Supports adding slide types for cells
Allows you to switch between different cell types (slide, subside, fragment, skip, notes)
Category 11 - Other Languages
Code Runner
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=formulahendry.code-runner
Creator: Jun Han
27 million installs
Run / executefiles for C, C++, Java, JS, PHP, Python, Perl, Ruby, Go, Lua, Groovy, PowerShell, CMD, BASH, F#, C#, VBScript, TypeScript, CoffeeScript, Scala, Swift, Julia, Crystal, OCaml, R, AppleScript, Elixir, VB.NET, Clojure, Haxe, Obj-C, Rust, Racket, Scheme, AutoHotkey, AutoIt, Kotlin, Dart, Pascal, Haskell, Nim
Run code file of active file or selected file
Stop running code
View output in the output window
Dart
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=Dart-Code.dart-code
Creator: Dart Code
9.3 million installs
Dart language support and debugger
Django
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=batisteo.vscode-django
Creator: Baptiste Darthenay
11 million installs
Syntax and scoped snippets
Flutter
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=Dart-Code.flutter
Creator: Dart Code
8.5 million installs
Flutter support and debugger for VSCode
Editing, refactoring, running and reloading mobile apps
Depends on the Dart extension for support for the Dart programming language
Go
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=golang.Go
Creator: Go Team at Google
13 million installs
Go language support for VSCode
GraphQL
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=GraphQL.vscode-graphql
Creator: GraphQL Foundation
2.1 million installs
LSP extension that adds autocompletion, validation, go-to definitions, hover, outline and more
PowerShell
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-vscode.PowerShell
Creator: Microsoft
11.4 million installs
Develop PowerShell modules, commands and scripts inside VSCode
PowerShell is a task automation and configuration program from Microsoft for scripting on Windows
Syntax highlighting
Built-in code snippets
Definitions, references, navigation
Execute programs and view output
Rainbow CSV
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=mechatroner.rainbow-csv
Creator: mechatroner
7.3 million installs
Syntax highlighting for .csv and .tsv (comma-, tab- semicolon-separated files with different colors)
Run SQL queries - transform, filter
Consistency check with CSVLint
XML Tools
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=DotJoshJohnson.xml
Creator: Josh Jonhson
XML formatting
XML tree view
XPath evaluation
XQuery linting
XQuery execution
XQuery code completion
YAML
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=redhat.vscode-yaml
Creator: Red Hat
17 million installs
YAML language support
Built-in Kubernetes syntax
YAML validation
Auto-completion
Hover support
Formatter
Category 12 - Markdown
Markdown All in One
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=yzhang.markdown-all-in-one
Creator: Yu Zhang
8.8 million installs
All the top features for writing Markdown
Keyboard shortcuts
Table of contents
Auto-preview
markdownlint
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=DavidAnson.vscode-markdownlint
Creator: David Anson
7 million installs
Markdown linting and style checking
Markdown Preview Enhanced
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=shd101wyy.markdown-preview-enhanced
Creator: Yiyi Wang
5.6 million installs
Markdown Preview Enhanced, ported to VSCode
View Markdown with real-time changes besides the editor
Category 13 - Databases
Database Client
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=cweijan.vscode-database-client2
Creator: Weijan Chen
410,000 installs
Database manager for MySQL, MariaDB, PostgresQL, SQLite, Redis, ElasticSearch
Database client and connection with many databases
Supports SSH client
View full table schemas and data
Execute SQL queries
Caching, backups, imports
Generate mock data
PostgreSQL
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-ossdata.vscode-postgresql
Creator: Microsoft
680,000 installs
Connect to Postgres instances
Manage connection profiles
View definitions
Write and execute queries
Save query results to output files
PostgreSQL
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ckolkman.vscode-postgres
Creator: Chris Kolkmann
800,000 installs
Postgres management tool
Query tool for databases
Manage connections
List servers, databases, functions, tables and columns
Execute queries
Syntax highlighting
Error detection
Category 14 - Dev-Ops
Kubernetes
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-kubernetes-tools.vscode-kubernetes-tools
Creator: Microsoft
4.2 million installs
Develop, deploy, debug Kubernetes apps
View clusters in an explorer tree view
View into workloads, services, pods, nodes
IntelliSense for resources and Helm charts and templates
Build and run containers from the editor
Docker
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-azuretools.vscode-docker
Creator: Microsoft
35 million installs
Create, manage, debug containerized apps
One-click debugging of Node, Python and .NET apps inside a container
Dev Containers
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers
Creator: Microsoft
25 million installs
Use a Docker container as a full-featured development environment
Develop with a consistent, easily reproducible toolchain on the same OS that you deploy to
Swap between development environments and make updates without affecting the local machine
Get other members up and running quickly
HashiCorp Terraform
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=HashiCorp.terraform
Creator: HashiCorp
4 million installs
Syntax highlighting and autocompletion for Terraform
An extension of the Terraform extension, intended for syntax highlighting, IntelliSense, and more
Terraform
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=4ops.terraform
Creator: Anton Kulikov
1 million installs
Syntax highlighting
IntelliSense
Code navigation
Code formatting
Module explorer