Visual Studio Code is loved by developers for its speed, versatility, and incredible extension marketplace. But with thousands of options available, it can be overwhelming to pick the best ones.
Here are the Top 20 must-have VS Code extensions every developer should install right now!
🏆 1. Prettier – Code Formatter
✨ Make your code beautiful automatically.
Auto-formats your code
Supports multiple languages
Keeps code clean and consistent
🔍 2. ESLint
🛡 Catch bugs and maintain coding standards.
Real-time linting
Integrates with Prettier
Highly customizable
🧠 3. GitLens
🔎 Supercharge your Git workflow.
See who changed what and why
Inline blame annotations
Rich Git history view
🎨 4. One Dark Pro
🎨 A beautiful and minimal theme.
Inspired by Atom’s One Dark
Popular dark theme choice
Boosts readability
🛠️ 5. Bracket Pair Colorizer 2
🌈 Match your brackets by color.
Helps in reading nested code
Great for JavaScript, Python, etc.
📦 6. Path Intellisense
🧭 Auto-suggest file paths while typing.
Helps with imports
Reduces typing errors
🔗 7. Live Server
🔥 Launch a development server with live reload.
Perfect for web development
Works out of the box
🧪 8. REST Client
🧬 Test APIs directly inside VS Code.
Send HTTP requests
View responses instantly
No need for Postman
🔐 9. DotENV
🔐 Syntax highlighting for .env files.
Supports environment variable files
Makes them easier to read and manage
⚙️ 10. Settings Sync
☁️ Sync your VS Code settings, extensions, and snippets.
Store preferences in GitHub Gist
Sync across multiple machines
🧱 11. Tabnine AI Autocomplete
🤖 AI-powered code suggestions.
Learns your coding style
Increases typing speed
Great alternative to GitHub Copilot
🐘 12. SQLTools
💾 Work with databases directly from VS Code.
Connect to PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, and more
Execute queries
View results in editor
💡 13. Code Spell Checker
✍️ Catch typos in your code and comments.
Multilingual support
Lightweight and fast
⚡ 14. Thunder Client
🚀 Modern and lightweight Postman alternative.
Great for REST API testing
GUI-friendly inside VS Code
🔧 15. Debugger for Chrome
🌐 Debug JavaScript code running in Chrome.
Set breakpoints
Step through code
Inspect variables in real-time
📘 16. Markdown All in One
📝 Powerful markdown editing tools.
Preview pane
Table of contents generator
Keyboard shortcuts
💾 17. Docker
🐳 Manage Docker containers and images.
Visualize containers
Manage Dockerfiles
Integrated terminal support
🌐 18. Remote - SSH
🔐 Work on remote machines like they're local.
Seamless SSH access
Great for cloud development
⚛️ 19. React Native Tools
📱 Build React Native apps efficiently.
Debug React Native code
View logs and inspect UI
🪄 20. Import Cost
💡 Shows the size of your imported packages.
Helps identify large dependencies
Optimizes bundle size
✅ Bonus Tips for Using Extensions
Don’t overload your editor — install only what you need.
Regularly update extensions for the latest features and fixes.
Use Settings Sync to back up your perfect setup.
💬 Final Thoughts
Your code editor should empower you, not slow you down. These VS Code extensions will help you write better code, faster — and with fewer bugs.
Start enhancing your developer workflow today!