Visual Studio Code is the most popular code editor in the world, with 14 million users and nearly 75% of the market share. VS Code’s real power comes not only from the features it comes with, but also from the huge number of extensions that are available for it. There are more than 30,000 VS Code extensions available in the marketplace. Picking the appropriate ones can greatly improve your productivity and change the way you develop.
We’ve put together a list of five must-have extensions that every developer should have in their toolset after looking at the most popular and useful ones accessible in 2025. We chose these extensions because they are popular, useful, and can help speed up common development activities.
GitHub Copilot is your AI pair programmer.
Why it’s important: GitHub Copilot is an AI pair programmer tool for Visual Studio Code that gives you code ideas as you type in the editor. It can also utilize natural language conversation to ask you questions about your code or start an editing session to add new features or repair bugs.
Important Features:
Intelligent Code Completion: AI-powered code completion that knows what’s going on
Language to Code: Turn descriptions in clear English into code that works
Multiple languages Support: Works with several programming languages
Aware of the context Suggestions: Knows your codebase and makes suggestions that are useful
Inline conversation: An inline conversation for editors that comes up with error messages and ways to fix problems.
Recent Changes: GitHub Copilot has changed a lot since it first came out. The 2025 version has better ideas for specific frameworks and a better awareness of context.
Tip: Add custom parameters to your settings to make Copilot operate with your specific frameworks. file in json.
To install, either look for "GitHub.copilot" in the VS Code marketplace or go to the Extensions panel and install it from there.
Prettier: A tool for formatting code
Why it’s important: One of the most popular VS Code extensions right now is Prettier. It helps developers stick to a style guide and keep the same styles across the whole team.
Important Features:
Automatic Code Formatting: Makes sure your code is always the same when you save it. Many languages Works with JavaScript, TypeScript, CSS, HTML, JSON, and more to give support.
Team Consistency: Makes sure that everyone in the team follows the same rules for formatting.
Customizable Rules: Set formatting options to fit your team’s style guide.
Works well with React, Vue, Angular, and other popular frameworks.
Why Developers Like It:
- Stops teams from arguing about how to write code
- Automatically formats code, which saves effort and cuts down on merge conflicts caused by formatting inconsistencies.
- Makes code easier to read and maintain
To install, go to the VS Code marketplace and look for "Prettier - Code formatter."
Live Server: A server for developing in real time
Why it’s important: The Live Server VS Code addon is a well-known utility that lets you set up a local development server that can reload static and dynamic web pages in real time. It’s helpful for web developers who want to check how their modifications to HTML, CSS, or JavaScript files look in the browser.
Important Features:
Live Reload: Your browser automatically refreshes when you save changes.
Local Development Server: Start a development server with just one click. Works on multiple platforms Works with Windows, macOS, and Linux
Custom Port Configuration: Pick the port you want to use for development
Support for HTTPS: Make sure your apps work with secure connections.
Great for:
- Frontend developers who use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
- Testing designs that work on different screen sizes
- Quick prototyping and building
- Building a static site
To install, look for "Live Server" by Ritwick Dey on the VS Code marketplace.
GitLens: Make Your Git Experience Better
Why it’s important: GitLens changes the built-in Git features of VS Code by adding rich visualizations and information about the history of your code, which makes it easier to see when, why, and by whom code was modified.
Important Features:
Blame Annotations: Find out who changed each line of code and when
Commit Graph: A visual representation of the history of commits in your repository
History of the file: See the full history of any file
Comparing branches: See how branches have changed over time
Insights into authorship: Know who owns the code and how people contribute to it.
Details about Hover: When you hover over code, you can see information about commits right away.
Why It’s Necessary:
- It helps in reviewing code and figuring out old code.
- It makes debugging easier by showing when bugs were added.
- Shows how each team member contributed, which helps with teamwork.
- Gives code modifications a reason to happen
To install, look for "GitLens—Git supercharged" in the VS Code marketplace.
Language-Specific IntelliSense Extensions
Why it’s important: VS Code has basic IntelliSense for a lot of languages, but specific language extensions add further features like better autocomplete, error detection, and debugging.
Some of the best language extensions to think about are:
For Python Programmers:
Python (by Microsoft): Full support for Python, including debugging, linting, and IntelliSense
Pylance: A fast, feature-rich way to support Python
For Developers Who Use JavaScript or TypeScript:
TypeScript Hero: Advanced TypeScript and JavaScript support for ES7 and later React/Redux/React-Native snippets: Necessary for building using React
For Web Developers:
HTML CSS Support: Better CSS support in HTML files
Auto Rename Tag: Automatically change the names of linked HTML/XML tags
Main Benefits:
Better Autocomplete: Suggestions that are more accurate and take context into account
Find and fix syntax and logic problems before they happen.
Advanced Debugging: Set breakpoints and look at variables in a smart way
Code Navigation: Go to definitions, look up references, and learn about the structure of the code
Refactoring Support: You can safely rename variables and change the structure of your code.
Installation: From the VS Code marketplace, pick the extensions that work with the main programming languages you use.
Extra Tips for Managing Extensions
Update Your Extensions
To get the newest features and security fixes, make sure to update your extensions often. When upgrades are ready, VS Code will let you know.
Don’t Give Your Editor Too Much Work
It’s easy to want to add a lot of extensions, but too many can make VS Code run slower. VS Code extensions can make your coding environment move from excellent to great, greatly increasing your IDE’s productivity.
However, it’s important to remember that:
quality is more important than quantity.
Change the settings for the extension
Most extensions let you change their settings. Take the time to make them fit your needs and the way you work.
Use Extensions That Are Specific to Your Workspace
If you only need extensions for certain projects, you might want to turn them on for those workspaces instead of all of them.
Conclusion
These five must-have VS Code enhancements are the building blocks of a productive development environment in 2025. GitHub Copilot changes the way we write code with AI help, Prettier makes sure that formatting is always the same, Live Server makes web development easier, GitLens improves version control workflows, and IntelliSense extensions for specific languages give you the deep understanding you need for each programming language.
Installing these extensions is only the first step to getting the most out of them. You also need to take the time to study how they function and make them work for you. Begin with these basic extensions, and if your needs change, add more specific ones.
An IDE is like your home; it doesn’t seem right until you’ve made it your own. These additions are the first step toward making a coding environment that is unique to you, works well, and is fun to use. This environment will be useful to you in 2025 and beyond.
Want to make your VS Code configuration even better? Put these extensions on your computer today and see how they can change the way you work on your projects every day.
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