Visual Studio Code

Free, cross-platform editor built on Electron + Monaco. Configuration lives in JSON; functionality is extended via marketplace extensions.

Cross-platform key conventions

The shortcuts below are listed for Windows / Linux. On macOS, the universal substitutions are:

Windows / Linux	macOS	Notes
`Ctrl`	`Cmd` (`⌘`)	Most chords (`Ctrl+S` → `Cmd+S`)
`Alt`	`Option` (`⌥`)	`Alt+↑` → `Option+↑`
`Shift`	`Shift` (`⇧`)	Unchanged
`Ctrl+Shift+P`	`Cmd+Shift+P`	Command Palette
`F1`	`F1`	Same on every platform
`Ctrl+K …` chords	`Cmd+K …`	Same chord, different leader
Ctrl+``	Ctrl+`	Terminal toggle — `Ctrl` on macOS too
Right `Alt`	`Option`	Different behavior with deadkeys on macOS layouts

A few keys are genuinely different (not a simple Ctrl→Cmd swap):

Action	Windows	Linux	macOS
Quick fix	`Ctrl+.`	`Ctrl+.`	`Cmd+.`
Go to definition	`F12`	`F12`	`F12` (or `Cmd+Click`)
Go back / forward	`Alt+←` / `→`	`Ctrl+Alt+-` / `Ctrl+Shift+-`	`Ctrl+-` / `Ctrl+Shift+-`
Trigger suggestions	`Ctrl+Space`	`Ctrl+Space`	`Cmd+Space` collides with Spotlight; default is `Ctrl+Space`
Toggle line comment	`Ctrl+/`	`Ctrl+/`	`Cmd+/`
Block comment	`Shift+Alt+A`	`Shift+Alt+A`	`Shift+Option+A`
Open user settings	`Ctrl+,`	`Ctrl+,`	`Cmd+,`
Integrated terminal	Ctrl+`	Ctrl+`	Ctrl+` (NOT Cmd)
Show all installed shortcuts	`Ctrl+K Ctrl+S`	`Ctrl+K Ctrl+S`	`Cmd+K Cmd+S`

When in doubt: Cmd+K Cmd+S (macOS) or Ctrl+K Ctrl+S (Windows/Linux) opens the Keyboard Shortcuts editor with the live binding for your OS.

Keyboard shortcuts (Windows / Linux)

## General
Ctrl+Shift+P, F1   Show Command Palette
Ctrl+P             Quick Open, Go to File…
Ctrl+Shift+N       New window/instance
Ctrl+Shift+W       Close window/instance
Ctrl+,             User Settings
Ctrl+K Ctrl+S      Keyboard Shortcuts

## Basic editing
Ctrl+X             Cut line (empty selection)
Ctrl+C             Copy line (empty selection)
Alt+↑ / ↓          Move line up/down
Shift+Alt+↓ / ↑    Copy line up/down
Ctrl+Shift+K       Delete line
Ctrl+Enter         Insert line below
Ctrl+Shift+Enter   Insert line above
Ctrl+Shift+\       Jump to matching bracket
Ctrl+] / [         Indent/outdent line
Home / End         Go to beginning/end of line
Ctrl+Home          Go to beginning of file
Ctrl+End           Go to end of file
Ctrl+↑ / ↓         Scroll line up/down
Alt+PgUp / PgDn    Scroll page up/down
Ctrl+Shift+[       Fold region
Ctrl+Shift+]       Unfold region
Ctrl+K Ctrl+[      Fold all subregions
Ctrl+K Ctrl+]      Unfold all subregions
Ctrl+K Ctrl+0      Fold all regions
Ctrl+K Ctrl+J      Unfold all regions
Ctrl+K Ctrl+C      Add line comment
Ctrl+K Ctrl+U      Remove line comment
Ctrl+/             Toggle line comment
Shift+Alt+A        Toggle block comment
Alt+Z              Toggle word wrap

## Navigation
Ctrl+T             Show all Symbols
Ctrl+G             Go to Line...
Ctrl+P             Go to File...
Ctrl+Shift+O       Go to Symbol...
Ctrl+Shift+M       Show Problems panel
F8                 Go to next error or warning
Shift+F8           Go to previous error or warning
Ctrl+Shift+Tab     Navigate editor group history
Alt+← / →          Go back / forward
Ctrl+M             Toggle Tab moves focus

## Search and replace
Ctrl+F             Find
Ctrl+H             Replace
F3 / Shift+F3      Find next/previous
Alt+Enter          Select all occurrences of Find match
Ctrl+D             Add selection to next Find match
Ctrl+K Ctrl+D      Move last selection to next Find match
Alt+C / R / W      Toggle case-sensitive / regex / whole word

## Multi-cursor and selection
Alt+Click               Insert cursor
Ctrl+Alt+↑ / ↓          Insert cursor above / below
Ctrl+U                  Undo last cursor operation
Shift+Alt+I             Insert cursor at end of each selected line
Ctrl+L                  Select current line
Ctrl+Shift+L            Select all occurrences of current selection
Ctrl+F2                 Select all occurrences of current word
Shift+Alt+→             Expand selection
Shift+Alt+←             Shrink selection
Shift+Alt + (drag mouse)              Column (box) selection
Ctrl+Shift+Alt + (arrow)              Column (box) selection
Ctrl+Shift+Alt + PgUp/PgDn            Column (box) selection page up/down

## Rich languages editing
Ctrl+Space, Ctrl+I   Trigger suggestion
Ctrl+Shift+Space     Trigger parameter hints
Shift+Alt+F          Format document
Ctrl+K Ctrl+F        Format selection
F12                  Go to Definition
Alt+F12              Peek Definition
Ctrl+K F12           Open Definition to the side
Ctrl+.               Quick Fix
Shift+F12            Show References
F2                   Rename Symbol
Ctrl+K Ctrl+X        Trim trailing whitespace
Ctrl+K M             Change file language

## Editor management
Ctrl+F4, Ctrl+W      Close editor
Ctrl+K F             Close folder
Ctrl+\               Split editor
Ctrl+ 1 / 2 / 3      Focus into 1st, 2nd or 3rd editor group
Ctrl+K Ctrl+←/→      Focus into previous/next editor group
Ctrl+Shift+PgUp/PgDn Move editor left/right
Ctrl+K ← / →         Move active editor group

## File management
Ctrl+N               New File
Ctrl+O               Open File...
Ctrl+S               Save
Ctrl+Shift+S         Save As...
Ctrl+K S             Save All
Ctrl+F4              Close
Ctrl+K Ctrl+W        Close All
Ctrl+Shift+T         Reopen closed editor
Ctrl+K Enter         Keep preview mode editor open
Ctrl+Tab             Open next
Ctrl+Shift+Tab       Open previous
Ctrl+K P             Copy path of active file
Ctrl+K R             Reveal active file in Explorer
Ctrl+K O             Show active file in new window/instance

## Display
F11                  Toggle full screen
Shift+Alt+0          Toggle editor layout (horizontal/vertical)
Ctrl+ = / -          Zoom in/out
Ctrl+B               Toggle Sidebar visibility
Ctrl+Shift+E         Show Explorer / Toggle focus
Ctrl+Shift+F         Show Search
Ctrl+Shift+G         Show Source Control
Ctrl+Shift+D         Show Debug
Ctrl+Shift+X         Show Extensions
Ctrl+Shift+H         Replace in files
Ctrl+Shift+J         Toggle Search details
Ctrl+Shift+U         Show Output panel
Ctrl+Shift+V         Open Markdown preview
Ctrl+K V             Open Markdown preview to the side
Ctrl+K Z             Zen Mode (Esc Esc to exit)

## Debug
F9                   Toggle breakpoint
F5                   Start/Continue
Shift+F5             Stop
F11 / Shift+F11      Step into/out
F10                  Step over
Ctrl+K Ctrl+I        Show hover

## Integrated terminal
Ctrl+`               Show integrated terminal
Ctrl+Shift+`         Create new terminal
Ctrl+C               Copy selection
Ctrl+V               Paste into active terminal
Ctrl+↑ / ↓           Scroll up/down
Shift+PgUp / PgDn    Scroll page up/down
Ctrl+Home / End      Scroll to top/bottom

Full reference: https://aka.ms/vscodekeybindings (separate PDFs for Windows, Linux, macOS).

Command Palette (`Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+P`)

The fastest way to do anything. Some useful patterns:

Prefix	What it does
`>`	Run a command (default when palette is opened with `Ctrl+Shift+P`)
(none)	Go to file by name (also `Ctrl/Cmd+P`)
`@`	Go to symbol in current file
`#`	Go to symbol in workspace
`:`	Go to line (`:42` or `:42:10`)
`?`	Show available command modes
`edit`	Filter “Open Settings…” commands

Settings

Two layers: User (your machine) and Workspace (.vscode/settings.json in the project — committed to the repo).

// .vscode/settings.json — committed, project-specific
{
  "editor.tabSize": 2,
  "editor.insertSpaces": true,
  "editor.formatOnSave": true,
  "editor.codeActionsOnSave": {
    "source.fixAll.eslint": "explicit",
    "source.organizeImports": "explicit"
  },
  "editor.rulers": [80, 120],
  "editor.bracketPairColorization.enabled": true,
  "editor.guides.bracketPairs": "active",
 
  "files.eol": "\n",
  "files.insertFinalNewline": true,
  "files.trimTrailingWhitespace": true,
  "files.exclude":   { "**/.DS_Store": true, "**/dist": true },
  "search.exclude":  { "**/node_modules": true, "**/coverage": true },
 
  "[python]":     { "editor.defaultFormatter": "ms-python.black-formatter" },
  "[typescript]": { "editor.defaultFormatter": "esbenp.prettier-vscode" },
  "[markdown]":   { "editor.wordWrap": "on" },
 
  "terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.windows": "PowerShell",
  "terminal.integrated.cwd": "${workspaceFolder}"
}

Open settings UI: Ctrl/Cmd+,. Open the JSON directly: command palette → “Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON)”.

Extensions

Browse from the sidebar (Ctrl+Shift+X) or the CLI:

code --list-extensions
code --install-extension dbaeumer.vscode-eslint
code --uninstall-extension ms-python.python
code --list-extensions > extensions.txt        # then `xargs -L1 code --install-extension < …`

Pin a set via extensions.json in .vscode/ — VS Code prompts new contributors to install them.

// .vscode/extensions.json
{
  "recommendations": [
    "esbenp.prettier-vscode",
    "dbaeumer.vscode-eslint",
    "editorconfig.editorconfig"
  ]
}

Snippets

User snippets: command palette → “Snippets: Configure User Snippets” → pick language. File is JSON.

// typescript.json
{
  "Log named value": {
    "prefix": "lognv",
    "body":   ["console.log('$1:', $1);$0"],
    "description": "Log a variable with its name"
  },
  "React FC": {
    "prefix": "rfc",
    "body": [
      "type ${1:Name}Props = {};",
      "",
      "export function ${1:Name}({}: ${1:Name}Props) {",
      "  return <div>$0</div>;",
      "}"
    ]
  }
}

Placeholders: $1, $2 (tab stops), $0 (final cursor), ${1:default}, ${TM_FILENAME}, ${CURRENT_YEAR}.

Tasks (`.vscode/tasks.json`)

Run shell commands from the palette / hotkey, parse problems with regex matchers.

{
  "version": "2.0.0",
  "tasks": [
    {
      "label": "test",
      "type":  "shell",
      "command": "npm test",
      "group": { "kind": "test", "isDefault": true },
      "presentation": { "reveal": "always", "panel": "dedicated" },
      "problemMatcher": ["$tsc"]
    },
    {
      "label": "build watch",
      "type":  "shell",
      "command": "npm run build -- --watch",
      "isBackground": true,
      "problemMatcher": {
        "owner": "tsc",
        "pattern": { "regexp": "^(.+):(\\d+):(\\d+)\\s+-\\s+error\\s+(.+)$",
                     "file": 1, "line": 2, "column": 3, "message": 4 },
        "background": {
          "activeOnStart": true,
          "beginsPattern": "Starting compilation",
          "endsPattern":   "Found \\d+ errors"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Run task: Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+B (default build) or palette → “Tasks: Run Task”.

Debug (`.vscode/launch.json`)

{
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "configurations": [
    {
      "type": "node",
      "request": "launch",
      "name": "Launch program",
      "program": "${workspaceFolder}/src/index.ts",
      "runtimeArgs": ["-r", "ts-node/register"],
      "env": { "NODE_ENV": "development" },
      "skipFiles": ["<node_internals>/**"]
    },
    {
      "type": "chrome",
      "request": "launch",
      "name": "Launch Chrome against localhost",
      "url": "http://localhost:5173",
      "webRoot": "${workspaceFolder}/src"
    }
  ],
  "compounds": [
    { "name": "Stack: server + client", "configurations": ["Launch program", "Launch Chrome against localhost"] }
  ]
}

Variables you can use in JSON files

${workspaceFolder}        ${file}            ${fileBasename}
${fileDirname}            ${fileExtname}     ${fileBasenameNoExtension}
${relativeFile}           ${lineNumber}      ${selectedText}
${pathSeparator}          ${env:HOME}        ${config:editor.tabSize}
${input:promptName}       ${command:cmd.id}  ${cwd}

Remote & containers

Mode	Extension	Use case
Remote – SSH	`ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh`	Edit code on a server, run there
Dev Containers	`ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers`	Reproducible, image-based dev env
WSL	`ms-vscode-remote.remote-wsl`	Linux toolchain on Windows
GitHub Codespaces	`GitHub.codespaces`	Cloud-hosted dev environments
`code-server` / vscode.dev	—	Web UI for anywhere

The code CLI works inside any of these (code . to open the current dir, code -r file.txt to reuse the current window).

`code` CLI

code .                                 # open current directory
code file.ts:42:7                      # open at line:column
code --diff a.txt b.txt                # diff view
code --goto file.ts:42                 # explicit
code --new-window
code --reuse-window
code --add ./more-folder               # add to current multi-root workspace
code --wait file                       # block until file is closed (use as $EDITOR)
code --status                          # uptime, mem, GPU info
code --verbose                         # full startup logging

On macOS, the CLI is installed via the palette command “Shell Command: Install ‘code’ command in PATH”.

Multi-root workspaces

A .code-workspace file groups multiple folders into one VS Code window.

// project.code-workspace
{
  "folders": [
    { "path": "apps/web" },
    { "path": "apps/api" },
    { "path": "packages/shared" }
  ],
  "settings": { "editor.tabSize": 2 }
}

Open with code project.code-workspace or via “File → Open Workspace from File…”.

Settings sync

Sign in (top-left, account icon) → choose what to sync: settings, keybindings, extensions, snippets, UI state. Backend is your Microsoft or GitHub account.

Productivity tips

Sticky scroll (editor.stickyScroll.enabled) keeps enclosing scopes pinned at the top — huge in large files.
Path Intellisense — relative-path completion in strings.
Bracket pair colorization is built in now; turn it on.
Merge editor (3-way) — set git.mergeEditor: true; resolve conflicts side-by-side.
Profiles (palette → “Profiles: Create Profile…”) — switch entire UI + extension sets (e.g. Frontend vs Rust vs Notes).
Notebook editor — .ipynb and custom notebooks render natively.
Workspace trust — disable code execution / extensions for unfamiliar repos until you mark them trusted.

Differences worth knowing — macOS specifics

Open from terminal: install the code shell command (palette → “Shell Command: Install ‘code’ command in PATH”).
Spotlight collides with Cmd+Space → leave VS Code’s suggestion trigger on Ctrl+Space, or rebind in Keyboard Shortcuts.
Cmd+Q quits the app entirely (not just the window). Many users disable it via “Apple Menu → System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → App Shortcuts” for VS Code.
Right-click on trackpad — two-finger tap or Ctrl+Click.
The macOS keybinding file is keybindings.json; same JSON shape as Windows/Linux but with cmd+ instead of ctrl+ in the key field.

Differences worth knowing — Linux specifics

Some distros ship code-oss (the open-source build) instead of Microsoft’s branded code — the Marketplace endpoint is different and proprietary extensions (Pylance, C#, Remote-SSH) may be unavailable. Install the official .deb/.rpm from https://code.visualstudio.com if you need them.
Ctrl+Alt+T is GNOME/Ubuntu’s terminal shortcut — it doesn’t collide with VS Code (which uses Ctrl+`).
Wayland: hardware acceleration sometimes glitches. If you see rendering issues, launch with code --disable-gpu or --ozone-platform=wayland.
Snap and Flatpak packages run sandboxed — file pickers and the integrated terminal can behave differently (e.g. limited $PATH).

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