VS Code out of the box is good; with six extensions it is a professional IDE. Do not install thirty — they slow startup and fight each other.
The essential six
- Prettier — auto-format on save. Ends all formatting debates. Set
"editor.formatOnSave": true - ESLint — catches bugs as you type (undefined vars, unused imports)
- Live Server — right-click HTML → "Open with Live Server" → auto-reloading local site
- GitLens — see who changed each line and why, inline
- Auto Rename Tag — edit an opening tag, the closing tag follows
- Error Lens — errors shown inline on the line, not hidden in a panel
Settings that matter
{
"editor.formatOnSave": true,
"editor.defaultFormatter": "esbenp.prettier-vscode",
"files.autoSave": "onFocusChange",
"editor.linkedEditing": true
}Learn the keys
Cmd/Ctrl+P open file · Cmd/Ctrl+D select next occurrence (multi-cursor) · Alt+↑/↓ move line · Cmd/Ctrl+/ toggle comment. These four save hours weekly.