GitHub Copilot is the most widely used AI coding assistant. It provides inline code suggestions as you type, a chat panel for asking questions about your code, and the ability to generate entire functions from comments. Copilot understands your project context, respects your coding style, and handles boilerplate code so you can focus on logic. The free tier includes limited completions; the Individual plan provides unlimited access. In 2026, Copilot's multi-file editing and agent mode make it significantly more capable than earlier versions.
Codeium is the best free AI coding assistant. It provides inline completions, a chat interface, and code explanations -- all without any cost for individual developers. The completions are fast and context-aware, covering over 70 programming languages. If you cannot justify the cost of Copilot or want a free alternative, Codeium delivers competitive quality at zero cost. The extension also includes a search feature that lets you find code patterns across your workspace using natural language.
Continue is an open-source AI coding assistant that lets you bring your own API keys for Claude, GPT-4, Gemini, or any OpenAI-compatible model, including local models via Ollama. It provides chat, inline editing, and autocomplete with full control over which model you use for each task. For developers who want AI assistance without vendor lock-in, Continue is the most flexible option. You can configure different models for different tasks -- Claude for complex reasoning, a fast model for autocomplete.
ESLint identifies and automatically fixes problems in JavaScript and TypeScript code. It catches bugs, enforces coding standards, and prevents common mistakes. The VS Code extension shows errors inline as you type and can fix many issues on save. Configure it with a shared config (like eslint-config-airbnb or @antfu/eslint-config) so your entire team writes consistent code. In 2026, ESLint's flat config format is the standard, and the extension fully supports it.
Prettier is an opinionated code formatter that supports JavaScript, TypeScript, HTML, CSS, JSON, Markdown, and many more languages. Enable "Format on Save" in VS Code settings and never think about formatting again. Prettier eliminates all style debates in a team -- the formatter decides, consistently. Configure it once in a .prettierrc file and every developer on the project gets identical formatting.
Error Lens displays errors, warnings, and information messages inline at the end of the line where they occur. Instead of hovering over squiggly underlines to see the error message, you see it immediately in a highlighted annotation. This dramatically reduces the time to identify and fix issues. Once you use Error Lens, going back to default error display feels painfully slow.
Catches spelling mistakes in code comments, strings, variable names, and documentation. Typos in variable names cause bugs. Typos in user-facing strings embarrass your product. This extension catches them before your users do. It understands camelCase, snake_case, and other naming conventions, and supports custom dictionaries for project-specific terminology.
GitLens supercharges the built-in Git capabilities of VS Code. It shows inline blame annotations (who changed each line and when), a rich commit history explorer, file history, branch comparisons, and interactive rebase support. The CodeLens annotations at the top of each function show the last author and commit. GitLens is the single most useful VS Code extension for understanding code changes and collaborating with a team. The free version covers all essential features.
Git Graph displays your repository's commit history as a visual graph directly in VS Code. You can see branches, merges, tags, and remote tracking branches in an interactive diagram. Right-click any commit to cherry-pick, revert, create a branch, or reset. It is the VS Code equivalent of git log --graph with a much better interface.
Provides a guided interface for writing conventional commit messages (feat:, fix:, docs:, etc.). It ensures every commit message follows a consistent format, which makes changelogs, version bumping, and history searching much easier. The extension adds a button to the source control panel that walks you through selecting the type, scope, and description.
Catppuccin is the most popular new theme family in 2026. It offers four pastel-inspired variants (Latte, Frappe, Macchiato, Mocha) that are easy on the eyes during long coding sessions. The color palette is carefully designed for accessibility and readability. Catppuccin also has matching themes for your terminal, browser, and desktop, so your entire environment can share a consistent aesthetic.
One Dark Pro is the most downloaded VS Code theme, based on Atom's iconic One Dark color scheme. The dark background with warm accent colors provides excellent contrast for long coding sessions. Multiple variants (Vivid, Flat, Darker) let you fine-tune the brightness and saturation. If you want a proven, battle-tested dark theme, One Dark Pro is the safe choice.
Replaces the default file icons with colorful, distinctive icons for every file type and folder name. JavaScript files get a yellow JS icon, TypeScript gets blue, React gets the React logo, and common folders like src, components, and tests get unique icons. This makes scanning the file explorer dramatically faster because your brain identifies file types by color and shape instead of reading extensions.
Essential for Tailwind CSS development. It provides autocomplete for all Tailwind classes, shows the generated CSS on hover, highlights errors in class names, and supports your custom Tailwind configuration. The autocomplete is context-aware and respects your tailwind.config.js. If you use Tailwind, install this immediately.
Provides dozens of code snippets for React development. Type rafce to generate a React Arrow Function Component with Export, useState to scaffold a useState hook, or useEffect for a complete useEffect block with cleanup. These snippets save hundreds of keystrokes per day for React developers.
Microsoft's official Python extension provides IntelliSense, linting, debugging, code navigation, Jupyter notebook support, and virtual environment management. It is the foundation for Python development in VS Code and integrates with pylint, mypy, black, and other Python tools. If you write any Python, this is the first extension to install.
Automatically renames the paired HTML/JSX tag when you rename one end. Change <div> to <section> and the closing tag updates automatically. Simple, essential, and saves constant manual corrections in HTML and React development.
Launches a local development server with live reload. Save an HTML, CSS, or JavaScript file and the browser refreshes automatically. One-click launch from the status bar or right-click menu. Essential for frontend development without a build tool. For quick prototyping and static site development, Live Server is faster than setting up Vite or webpack.
A lightweight REST API client built into VS Code. Send HTTP requests, organize them into collections, set up environments with variables, and write test scripts -- all without leaving your editor. It is a lightweight alternative to Postman that eliminates context switching. See our Best Free API Testing Tools guide for more options.
Searches your workspace for TODO, FIXME, HACK, and other comment tags and displays them in a tree view in the sidebar. Click any item to jump to the location in your code. It highlights tags in the editor with customizable colors and icons. Never lose track of a TODO comment again.
Save and quickly switch between projects. Instead of using File > Open Folder every time, Project Manager gives you a sidebar with all your projects organized and one-click accessible. It supports Git, Mercurial, and SVN repositories and can auto-detect projects in specified directories.
Opens a remote folder on any machine with SSH access. Your VS Code UI runs locally while all file operations, terminal commands, and extensions execute on the remote machine. This is how many developers work with cloud servers, WSL instances, and powerful build machines. The experience is identical to local development -- there is zero latency on file operations because the VS Code server handles everything remotely.
Opens your project inside a Docker container with a fully configured development environment. Define your tools, extensions, and settings in a devcontainer.json file, and every developer on your team gets an identical environment. This eliminates "works on my machine" problems permanently. The extension handles container lifecycle, port forwarding, and extension installation automatically.
Beyond extensions, these settings and shortcuts dramatically improve productivity:
"files.autoSave": "afterDelay" with a 1-second delay. Never lose work to unsaved files."editor.formatOnSave": true. Combined with Prettier, your code formats automatically."editor.bracketPairColorization.enabled": true."editor.stickyScroll.enabled": true to keep parent scopes visible as you scroll through nested code."editor.minimap.enabled": false to gain screen space. Most developers never use the minimap for navigation.Cmd+P (Mac) / Ctrl+P (Windows/Linux) to open any file by name. Faster than clicking through the file explorer.Cmd+Shift+P for every VS Code command. If you remember one shortcut, remember this one.Option (Mac) / Alt (Windows) and click to add cursors. Or use Cmd+D to select the next occurrence of the current selection.Check out our Best Terminal Apps and Git Commands Cheat Sheet.
Browse All Free ToolsKeep it under 20-25 active extensions. Too many extensions slow down startup and can cause conflicts. Install extensions you use daily, disable ones you use occasionally, and uninstall anything unused for a month. Use VS Code profiles to maintain different extension sets for different project types.
GitHub Copilot remains the most popular. Codeium is the best free alternative. Continue.dev is the most flexible, letting you use your own API keys with Claude, GPT-4, or local models. The best choice depends on whether you want a managed service or maximum flexibility.
VS Code remains the most popular editor with over 70% market share. Its extension ecosystem, AI integration, and remote development capabilities are unmatched. Cursor (a VS Code fork with native AI) is the main competitor, but standard VS Code with the right extensions covers the same functionality.
Yes, poorly designed or too many extensions can cause slowdowns. Use the built-in Extension Bisect feature to identify problems. Monitor startup time with Developer: Startup Performance. Keep total active extensions under 25 for optimal performance.
Professional developers typically use: an AI assistant (Copilot or Codeium), ESLint + Prettier, GitLens, Error Lens, a good theme, language-specific extensions, and Docker/Remote SSH for dev environments. The key is quality over quantity.
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