My VS Code Extensions for Daily Development Work

As a developer, VS Code extensions are essential tools that enhance productivity and streamline the development workflow. Here’s a curated list of all the extensions I use daily, organized by category with explanations of why each one is valuable.

💡 Pro Tip: List Your Extensions

To see which extensions you have installed, run this command in your terminal:

code --list-extensions

For detailed info with versions:

code --list-extensions --show-versions

🤖 AI & Code Assistance

GitHub Copilot
AI-powered code completion that suggests entire lines or blocks of code. Essential for faster coding and learning new patterns.

GitHub Copilot Chat
Interactive AI assistant for code explanation, debugging, and refactoring suggestions directly in VS Code.

Continue
Open-source AI code assistant that provides intelligent code completion and chat capabilities.

Bito AI
AI-powered code assistant for generating, explaining, and optimizing code across multiple programming languages.

IntelliCode
Microsoft’s AI-assisted development with smart code completion based on best practices from thousands of open-source projects.

📝 Documentation & Markdown

Markdown Preview Enhanced
Advanced markdown preview with support for diagrams, math expressions, and export options. Perfect for README files and documentation.

Markdown PDF
Convert markdown files to PDF, HTML, PNG, or JPEG formats. Great for sharing documentation in multiple formats.

Auto Markdown TOC
Automatically generates table of contents for markdown files, saving time when creating structured documents.

Mintlify Document
AI-powered documentation generator that creates detailed docstrings and comments for your code.

Pandoc
Convert between different document formats using Pandoc directly from VS Code.

🎨 Code Quality & Formatting

Prettier - Code formatter
Automatic code formatting for consistent code style across JavaScript, TypeScript, CSS, and more.

Better Comments
Enhances code comments with color coding for TODO, FIXME, and other comment types.

ShellCheck
Linting for shell scripts to catch common errors and improve script quality.

Shell Format
Formats shell scripts according to standard conventions for better readability.

🔧 Language Support

Java & Spring

Extension Pack for Java
Complete Java development suite including debugger, test runner, and project management.

Spring Boot Extension Pack
Tools for Spring Boot development including auto-completion and live application information.

Spring Boot Dashboard
Manage and monitor Spring Boot applications directly from VS Code.

C# & .NET

C#
Essential for C# development with IntelliSense, debugging, and project templates.

C# DevKit
Comprehensive C# development experience with enhanced project management and debugging.

Python

Python
Complete Python development environment with debugging, linting, and IntelliSense.

Pylance
Fast, feature-rich language support for Python with type checking and auto-imports.

JavaScript & React

ES7+ React/Redux/React-Native snippets
Essential code snippets for React development, dramatically speeds up component creation.

Angular

Angular Language Service
Official Angular extension providing IntelliSense and error checking for Angular templates.

🐳 DevOps & Containers

Docker
Manage Docker containers and images directly from VS Code with syntax highlighting for Dockerfiles.

Dev Containers
Develop inside Docker containers for consistent development environments.

Remote - WSL
Seamless development experience using Windows Subsystem for Linux.

🔍 Git & Version Control

GitLens
Supercharges Git capabilities with blame annotations, commit history, and repository insights.

📊 Diagrams & Visualization

Draw.io Integration
Create and edit diagrams directly in VS Code for documentation and system design.

PlantUML
Generate UML diagrams from text descriptions, perfect for technical documentation.

Diagrams Preview
Preview various diagram formats including Mermaid and PlantUML.

Polacode
Create beautiful screenshots of your code for presentations and documentation.

🛠️ Utilities & Productivity

REST Client
Test REST APIs directly from VS Code without leaving the editor.

JSON Crack
Visualize JSON data as interactive graphs for better understanding of complex structures.

TODO+
Advanced TODO management with nested todos, tags, and time tracking.

Auto Import - ES6, TS, JSX, TSX
Automatically finds and adds import statements for TypeScript and JavaScript.

Regex
Test and debug regular expressions with real-time highlighting and explanation.

🗄️ Database & Cloud

Oracle SQL Developer
Connect to and manage Oracle databases directly from VS Code.

AWS CDK Snippets
Code snippets for AWS Cloud Development Kit to speed up infrastructure as code development.

💻 Shell & Bash

Bash IDE
Enhanced Bash scripting experience with syntax highlighting and IntelliSense.

---

Summary

These 50+ extensions transform VS Code into a powerful, multi-language IDE capable of handling everything from simple scripts to complex enterprise applications. The key is finding the right balance - install extensions that genuinely improve your workflow without overwhelming the editor.

Remember: Extensions can slow down VS Code startup time, so regularly review and disable extensions you’re not actively using.

Have suggestions for other must-have extensions? Feel free to share in the comments below!