Ansh Dhingra

Posted on Dec 24, 2020

My VS Code Setup

#vscode #webdev #codenewbie

VS Code is one of the best editors out there in the market. And not just for the sake that is launched by Microsoft, it has some really amazing features, the primary one being, allowing developers to install extensions and use as per their requirement.

Why do we need extensions ?

As a developer, you tend to achieve your goals in the minimum time possible. Coding the same 5 lines can be really tiring. That is where extension come in handy. Just 4 words and voilà! the entire syntax is laid out. While some of them autofill the syntax, there are some that provide a variety of themes. As a dark theme lover, I have plenty of them installed in my editor and I shall be sharing them with you!!

Extension I use

Just like you, I have scrolled through various articles and Instagram posts, talking about the top 20 VS Code extensions that every developer must have. Every developer ranks these extensions in the way they like. I did use them and some of them didn't suit me. And that's perfectly alright! Extensions are only a helping hand in making your lives easier. Coding the application and deploying it, is something that only a developer can do and not any extension.
Here are the extensions that you'll find in my VS Code:

Themes and Appearance:

Atom One Dark Theme - Mahmoud Ali

Ayu - teabyii

Community Material Theme - Mattia Astorino

Dracula Official - Dracula Theme

Helium Icon Theme - Helgard Richard Ferreira

Material Icon Theme - Philipp Kief

Material Theme Icons - Mattia Astorino

One Dark Pro - binaryify

One Monokai Theme - Joshua Azemoh

Palenight Theme - Olaolu Olawuyi

Panda Theme - Panda Theme (one of my favourites!)

A sneek peek in one of my projects with Panda Theme

Synthwave'84 - Robb Owen

vscode-icons - VSCode Icons Team

Tools and Productivity:

Auto Close Tag - Jun Han

This extension automatically adds the closing tag while writing HTML or XML syntax

Auto Import - steoates

Probably the most helpful one, this extension automatically generates the import statement, in case you forget to import a snippet and have called it in your code
Comes in handy while making TypeScript or React Applications

Auto Rename Tag - Jun Han

This extension automatically renames the closing tag when you rename the opening tag.

Auto Open Markdown Preview - hnw

While editing README files in your editor, this extension allows you to look at your changes directly in your editor. You can also open the preview in another pane and the changes you make are automatically reflected.

Better Align - wwm

This extension allows you to perfectly indent your code without any hassle

Better Comments - Aaron Bond

This extension allows you to have beautiful comments in your code. It allows you to add highlights, notes, alerts and much more

Bracket Pair Colorizer - CoenraadS

One of the best in the market, this extension highlights matching brackets so that as a developer, you are not confused while closing the wrong type of bracket

Code Time - Software

I tend to keep a record of the time I have coded on a particular day and this extension helps me with it. Not only that, but it also provides a detailed analytics of the time spent on a particular file, the total no. of lines coded etc.

ES7 React/Redux/GraphQL/React-Native snippets - dsznajder

Being a React developer, this extension helps me whenever I need to write a React Syntax in a file. It automatically generates the function and the import statements, and does much more than that.

Live Server - Ritwick Dey

Probably the most talked about, this is a must-have extension since it automatically creates a server for you to view your files. Any changes in your files are automatically reflected in the server.

Path Intellisense - Christian Kohler

This extension automatically completes the filenames as you import/export a file.

Prettier - Code Formatter - Prettier

Neatly formats your code. It includes support for JavaScript, JSX, Vue, Angular, etc.

React PropTypes Intellisense - Of Human Bondage

Finds the type of props in React and automatically generates a snippet to be added in the React Component

Those are all the VS Code extensions that I use. Hope you enjoy my article and have a great time using these helpful extensions :)

Top comments (11)

Gulajava Ministudio • Dec 25 '20

Thank you for list in this article. There are another Extension that useful, such as

Gitlens
Git Graph
Path intellisense
CodeSnap

and for VS Code theme , you can try Mayukai Theme with good syntax highlighting and many color scheme inside it.

Pritam Patil • Dec 24 '20

Thanks for this article. Since long I had been meaning to write about my vscode setup. I have been using most of the extensions you mentioned here.

Adding to this list:

Bookmarks (alefragnani.bookmarks): Add bookmarks within a file to navigate easily.
Change case (wmaurer.change-case): Easily change case for you function names, variables etc.
Color Highlight (naumovs.color-highlight): Highlights colors in your style files
Peacock (johnpapa.vscode-peacock): If you have multiple vscode windows open, this helps distinguish between them
snippet-creator (nikitakunevich.snippet-creator): if you type a particular line/code over and over again, you can create a snippet out of it using this
Tabnine Autocomplete AI: as it says, brings AI power to your code. It learns your coding style and auto-suggests as you type on.

Pavlo Malitov • Dec 28 '20

Tabnine is a must-have item :)

Tabnine • Dec 28 '20

Agreed :)

Rob OLeary • Dec 30 '20 • Edited

The Auto rename tag, auto close tag and auto import extensions are not needed. There are settings in VS Code you can use. You can read my article for more information.

VS Code: You don't need that extension

Rob OLeary ・ Aug 5 '20 ・ 7 min read

#webdev #vscode #productivity #tips

hq • Dec 26 '20

Live Server is deprecated, try HQ Live Server instead marketplace.visualstudio.com/items... it supports popular frameworks with no configuration required.