Useful Visual Studio Code Extensions
Tags: vscode, codequality, productivity
Published: 2019-06-29 02:27:07

A list of Visual Studio Code extensions I found to be most useful.

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## **1. Live Server** by Ritwick Dey
  (https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ritwickdey.LiveServer)

It's an HTTP server with live browser reload, and your can start or stop the server by a single click from the status bar.

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## **2. REST Client** by Huachao Mao
  (https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=humao.rest-client)

With this extension you can create regular HTTP requests in plain text and run them then view the response directly in Visual Studio Code. Also you can put multiple HTTP commands in a single file and save them for future use. Has authentication support for "Basic Auth" among others.

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## **3. Better Comments** by Aaron Bond
  (https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=aaron-bond.better-comments)

This extension adds "visual distinction" to code comments. You can "tag" (categorize) your comments with certain characters to make them stand out better so when you're looking for a particular type, you can easily find it.

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## **4. Bracket Pair Colorizer 2** by CoenraadS
  (https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=CoenraadS.bracket-pair-colorizer-2)

Adds extra colors (blue, yellow, purple, etc.) to matching braces in your code and gives you one more clue to help you understand faster what's going on in your code editor.

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## **5. XML Tools** by Josh Johnson
  (https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=DotJoshJohnson.xml)

When you're working with XML (doesn't get much love these days) this extension adds a formatting feature and enhances the explorer with an "XML tree view". Also you can minify (turn it into a single line) your XML.

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## **6. vscode-icons** by VSCode Icons Team
  (https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=vscode-icons-team.vscode-icons)

Adds icon images to the files which have different extensions. It has a different icon for each file extension. It makes it much easier to differentiate between file types in the files structure.   

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## **7. Encode Decode** by Mitch Denny
  (https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=mitchdenny.ecdc)

Allows you to quickly convert one or more selections of text to and from various formats.  

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## **8. DotENV** by mikestead
  (https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=mikestead.dotenv)

Adds syntax highlighting when editing _.env_ files.  

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## **9. Vagrantfile Support** by Marco Stazi
  (https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=marcostazi.VS-code-vagrantfile)

It provides syntax highlighting support for _Vagrantfile_ files.  

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## **10. Markdown Preview Enhanced** by Yiyi Wang
  (https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=shd101wyy.markdown-preview-enhanced)

Shows the rendered HTML markdown to the side of the current editor's pane.  

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## **11. GitLens — Git supercharged** by GitKraken
  (https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=eamodio.gitlens)

Shows who changed each line of code. Also, it shows when code was changed and the related commit message.  

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