Top 10 VS Code Extensions Every Developer Should Use in 2026

Visual Studio Code became the editor most developers reach for by default, and a big part of that comes down to its extensions. The right ones can turn a fairly plain text editor into something that formats your code, catches bugs before you commit them, and tests your APIs without ever leaving the window.

Here are ten extensions worth installing in 2026, whether you’re just getting comfortable with VS Code or you’ve been using it for years and want to tighten up your setup.

1. Prettier – Code Formatter

Prettier takes care of formatting automatically, so you stop thinking about spacing, quotes, and line breaks and just write code. It supports a wide range of languages, and once it’s set up to format on save, consistent styling stops being something you have to think about at all.

Why use it

It saves real time over manual formatting, keeps a codebase consistent across everyone touching it, and works across most of the languages a typical web project touches.

2. ESLint

ESLint analyzes your JavaScript and TypeScript as you write it, flagging bugs, bad patterns, and style issues before they ever reach a pull request. Paired with Prettier, ESLint handles the “is this code correct” side while Prettier handles “is this code formatted consistently,” and the two are commonly configured to work together without stepping on each other.

Key benefits

It catches errors early, improves overall code quality, and integrates cleanly into most existing JavaScript and TypeScript workflows.

3. Live Server

Live Server spins up a local development server and automatically refreshes your browser every time you save a file. For anyone working directly in HTML, CSS, or vanilla JavaScript, it removes the manual refresh-and-check loop entirely.

Best for

Static sites and front-end projects built with plain HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, especially before a bundler or framework enters the picture.

4. GitLens

GitLens layers a huge amount of Git context directly into the editor. Instead of switching to the terminal to figure out who touched a line last or when a file changed, GitLens shows that information inline, right where you’re already looking.

Features

It shows blame information for individual lines, makes it easy to trace a file’s history, and is particularly useful on team projects where several people are touching the same codebase.

5. IntelliCode

IntelliCode, built by Microsoft, adds AI-assisted suggestions on top of VS Code’s regular autocomplete. Rather than ranking suggestions alphabetically, it prioritizes the ones that are statistically more likely given the context, trained on patterns from a large body of real-world code.

Why developers rely on it

It speeds up routine coding, sharpens autocomplete accuracy, and adapts its suggestions based on common patterns seen across real projects.

6. Auto Rename Tag

This one is simple but saves a surprising number of small mistakes: rename an opening HTML or XML tag, and Auto Rename Tag updates the matching closing tag automatically. Rename <div> and the closing </div> follows along without you having to touch it separately.

7. Path Intellisense

Path Intellisense autocompletes file paths as you type, which sounds minor until you’re deep in a project with a nested folder structure. It speeds up import statements and general file linking, and quietly removes a small but constant source of typos.

Perfect for

Import statements and any project where you’re frequently linking to other files across folders.

8. Error Lens

One note on the previous version of this list: Bracket Pair Colorizer, once a very popular extension for coloring matching brackets, has been deprecated since 2021. Its functionality was folded directly into VS Code itself, so bracket colorization now works out of the box and just needs to be enabled in settings if it isn’t already on by default.

In its place, Error Lens earns a spot on a current list like this one. It surfaces errors and warnings directly on the line where they occur, instead of tucking them away in a separate panel you have to go check.

Helpful for

Catching mistakes immediately while typing, and cutting down the back-and-forth of jumping to the Problems panel to see what’s wrong.

9. Code Spell Checker

Code Spell Checker flags likely misspellings in comments, strings, and variable names as you write. It’s a small thing, but typos in code and documentation look unpolished and occasionally cause real bugs when a misspelled variable name silently creates a new one instead of throwing an error.

Why it matters

Cleaner comments and variable names, and a codebase that reads as more professional to anyone else who opens it.

10. Thunder Client

Thunder Client is a lightweight REST API testing tool built directly into VS Code, commonly reached for as a lighter alternative to Postman. It’s especially convenient for developers who want to fire off a quick request without switching to a separate application.

Best alternative to

Postman, for straightforward REST API testing and quick sanity checks against an endpoint.

Wrapping up

The right set of extensions changes how VS Code feels to work in, faster formatting, better error catching, cleaner Git history, and API testing without leaving the editor. You don’t need all ten at once. Start with Prettier and ESLint if you’re working in JavaScript, add GitLens once you’re collaborating with others, and layer in the rest as you find gaps in your own workflow.

At Developer Hint, we like keeping tabs on which tools are still worth installing and which ones have quietly been replaced by something built right into the editor, so your setup stays current instead of carrying over habits from a few years back.

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