Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code is an open source code editor that runs on Linux, macOS and Windows. Developers use it to write, run and debug code, and it also has a web version and a separate Insiders build for early features. It now puts a strong focus on working with AI coding agents.

What Visual Studio Code offers

• Code editing — smart completions based on variable types, function definitions and imported modules.
• Debugging — launch or attach to running apps from the editor, with breakpoints, call stacks and an interactive console.
• Source control — review differences, stage files and commit from within the editor, using Git or other providers.
• Extensions — add languages, themes, debuggers and connections to other services, each running in its own process.
• AI agents — agents that plan, write and debug code, with a choice of models and a single view of sessions.

Who it works with

It suits individual developers and teams building web, cloud and general software projects in languages such as Python and JavaScript. A browser version covers quick edits on repositories hosted on GitHub or Azure Repos.

Key facts

• Platforms: Linux, macOS, Windows and the web
• Licence: open source
• Variants: stable release and Insiders build