Install Visual Studio Code: Microsoft’s Free Code Editor

VS Code sits between a plain text editor and a full IDE. It starts quickly, handles almost any programming language through extensions, and has become one of the most widely used editors among developers.

Key features

• IntelliSense: Smart code completion, parameter hints and quick documentation for many languages.
• Built-in debugger: Set breakpoints, step through code and inspect variables without leaving the editor.
• Git integration: Stage changes, write commits and resolve merge conflicts from the Source Control panel.
• Integrated terminal: Run commands in a terminal panel right below your code.
• Extensions: Add support for languages, linters, themes, remote development and AI assistants from the Marketplace.

Which installer to choose

1. code.visualstudio.com offers builds for Windows, macOS and Linux.
2. On Windows, the User Installer is the simplest choice because it does not need administrator rights.
3. During setup, ticking “Add to PATH” and “Open with Code” makes it easy to launch from the terminal and File Explorer.

License and hardware

Microsoft’s download is free but ships under a Microsoft license; the underlying source code (the “Code - OSS” project) is MIT-licensed. VS Code recommends at least a 1.6 GHz processor and 1 GB of RAM.