Visual Studio Code is a free, open-source code editor for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It is the open platform for AI agents, built to be extended, and backed by a powerful editor with built-in debugging, Git, and IntelliSense.
You can download and install VS Code on your desktop, or open it instantly in the browser at vscode.dev with zero setup (learn more about VS Code for the Web).
AI agents
Run any agent with any model across your full project.
Powerful editor
Debugging, Git, IntelliSense, and every major language.
Extensible platform
Extensions, MCP servers, custom instructions, and an open API.
Download the installer for your platform and follow the steps below. VS Code is lightweight and runs on most available hardware. Review the system requirements for details.
VS Code ships weekly Stable releases with auto-update. To preview upcoming features, install the Insiders build, which ships nightly and runs side by side with Stable.
.exe).code to your PATH so you can open a folder from the terminal with code ..For System Setup, ZIP archive, or other options, see the full Windows setup guide.
.dmg installer..dmg file and drag Visual Studio Code.app to the Applications folder.To use the code command in the terminal, open the Command Palette (⇧⌘P (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+P)) and run Shell Command: Install 'code' command in PATH. For more options, see the full macOS setup guide.
Download the package for your distribution from the download page:
.deb package and install it with sudo apt install ./<file>.deb..rpm package and install it with sudo dnf install ./<file>.rpm.Installing the package sets up the apt or dnf repository for automatic updates. For Snap, Arch, Nix, and other options, see the full Linux setup guide.
Review the system requirements for supported platforms and hardware.
VS Code is a small download, less than 200 MB, and has a disk footprint of less than 500 MB.
VS Code doesn't include a traditional File > New Project dialog or preinstalled project templates. Add additional components and scaffolders based on your development workflow. Scaffolding tools like Yeoman and packages from the npm package manager provide templates and tools to create projects.
On Linux and Windows, choose Help > About. On macOS, use Code > About Visual Studio Code. The About dialog shows the version number and the commit ID. For Insiders builds, multiple builds can share the same version number, so use the commit ID to uniquely identify your build.
VS Code has detected that some installation files have been modified, perhaps by an extension. Reinstalling VS Code will replace the affected files. See our FAQ topic for more details.
To remove all user data after uninstalling VS Code, delete the user data folders Code and .vscode. This returns VS Code to the state before installation and can reset all settings without uninstalling VS Code.
The folder locations vary depending on your platform:
%APPDATA%\Code and %USERPROFILE%\.vscode.$HOME/Library/Application Support/Code and ~/.vscode.$HOME/.config/Code and ~/.vscode.