My List of VSCode Extensions.
Tags: vscode
Published: 2021-07-07 22:58:21

Like millions of other developers, I use VSCode. It's not particularly remarkable, but I decided to make a personal list of my favorite extensions. Many of these are plenty well known in the community, but when I started, it look me some time to find out about some of my current favorites. I figured I'd create a central list for beginners to find and that I can send to beginners. This list is separated by language/application/library; ie: Git, Markdown, etc. I will not be including language tooling or Intellisense extensions.
If you are reading this and know of an extension you think I'd like, please leave a comment!

So lets get started.

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## General Purpose & Miscellaneous
These are all extensions that are not bound to any particular language or application, but just generally useful or fun to have.

### [Github Theme](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=GitHub.github-vscode-theme)
This is my theme pack of choice. Specifically, I use the Github Dark Default setting. I like that it keeps things as dark as possible, with very little deviation outside grey/black. I've also just gotten used to the syntax highlighting. 

### [Bracket Pair Colorizer](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=CoenraadS.bracket-pair-colorizer)
This extension is an absolute *must*. It greatly improves readability of code and makes it easier to find errors caused by missing brackets.

### [Comment Anchors](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ExodiusStudios.comment-anchors)
Well documented code is *key*. This extension allows you to create descriptive, highlighted comments. I used to use the Better Comments extension, but I switched to Comment Anchors for a couple reasons: First, it works in JSX, which better comments didn't. Second, *I can find where I left a comment.* Even though I only recently got this extension, I can see how killer this feature can be.

### [Discord Presence](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=icrawl.discord-vscode)
This one is a little bit vain, as it's sole purpose is to report that one is using VSCode into the Discord status process. I think it's cool though.

### [Remote Development Extension Pack](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-vscode-remote.vscode-remote-extensionpack)
This is a must-have extension for anyone who uses WSL, like myself. Other than that, it is immensely useful for its other capabilities.

### [Material Icon Theme](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=PKief.material-icon-theme)
I used to use vscode-icons, but I found Material Icons and just liked the "flatness" of the icons.

### [Emoji](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=Perkovec.emoji)
This is a simple extension: Insert emojis into code easily.

### [:emojisense:](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=bierner.emojisense)
In the same vein as the last one, this also allows for even easier insertion of emojis into code.

## Git
These are the extensions that I like to have for general purpose git (and Github) usage.

### [GitLens](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=eamodio.gitlens)
This one is an obvious must. With over 10 million downloads, it fills in the git feature void in VSCode. I especially love the `git blame` feature.

### [Git Graph](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=mhutchie.git-graph)
This one is also quite popular, sitting around 1.5 million downloads. It's not particularly special nor necessary, but it's reallllly cool to look at.

### [Github Pull Requests and Issues](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=GitHub.vscode-pull-request-github)
Being able to refer back to PR's and issues without changing windows / desktops is a great time saver.

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