5 Essential VS Code Extensions Every Developer Should have

When I started coding, I spent way too much time on repetitive tasks. I would manually format my code, waste time figuring out who wrote what line of code when debugging, and constantly switch between VS Code and Postman to test APIs. Then I discovered VS Code extensions, and everything changed.

Here are 5 extensions that I use every single day. They save me hours of work and make coding way less painful.

1. GitLens

GitLens is like having X-ray vision for your code. It shows you who wrote each line, when they wrote it, and why.

I remember debugging a piece of code that kept breaking. I had no idea who wrote it or what the original purpose was. With GitLens, I just hovered over the line and saw the entire commit message and author right there. Turns out it was my own code from 3 months ago. Lesson learned.

The blame annotations appear right next to your code as you type. You can see the commit history for any file, compare branches, and even navigate through the entire repository history without leaving VS Code. When you are working in a team, this becomes essential. You can quickly figure out who to ask about a specific piece of code.

2. Prettier

Prettier formats your code automatically. That is it. But this one thing is huge.

Before Prettier, I spent time deciding whether to use single quotes or double quotes, how many spaces to indent, where to put my brackets, and all that stuff. Then I would get into arguments with teammates about code style during reviews.

With Prettier, I just hit save and the code formats itself. Everyone on the team uses the same rules, so our code looks consistent. No more discussions about tabs vs spaces.

You can set it to format your code every time you save a file. I enable this and forget about formatting completely. It handles JavaScript, TypeScript, HTML, CSS, and basically everything you throw at it.

3. ESLint

ESLint catches errors before you even run your code. It underlines potential problems right in your editor.

I once spent 2 hours debugging why my React component would not render. Turns out I had a typo in a variable name. ESLint would have caught that immediately with a red underline. Now I install ESLint on every project.

It does more than just catch typos though. It enforces coding standards, warns you about unused variables, suggests better ways to write code, and can even fix many issues automatically when you save. The colored underlines tell you exactly what is wrong and why.

When you pair ESLint with Prettier, you get both error checking and formatting handled automatically. They work together perfectly.

4. ES7+ React/Redux/React-Native Snippets

This extension is a massive time saver when working with React. Instead of typing out the same boilerplate code over and over, you just type a few letters and get the whole structure.

When I started with React, I would manually type out imports, component functions, and export statements every single time. It was tedious. Then I found this extension and my workflow completely changed.

You type "rafce" and hit tab, and boom, you get a full React functional component with an arrow function and export. Type "useState" and it autocompletes with the proper syntax. It works with JavaScript, TypeScript, and JSX.

The extension supports React, Redux, GraphQL, and React Native. If you work with any of these, the snippets will speed you up significantly. It saves me from typing the same code structure hundreds of times a week.

5. Thunder Client

Thunder Client is a lightweight API testing tool built right into VS Code. It is basically Postman but without leaving your editor.

Before I found Thunder Client, I would switch between VS Code and Postman constantly. Write some backend code, switch to Postman, test the API, switch back, make changes, repeat. It broke my flow every time.

Now I just click the Thunder Client icon in VS Code, create a request, and test my APIs without switching apps. It handles GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, and all the other HTTP methods. You can save requests in collections, use environment variables, and even write tests.

The interface is clean and simple. Everything you need is there, but it is not overwhelming like some of the bigger tools. For most API testing during development, Thunder Client does the job perfectly. Your test data saves locally, and you can commit your collections to Git so your team can use the same requests.

Final Thoughts

These 5 extensions transformed how I code. I installed them when I started learning web development, and they are still the first extensions I install on any new VS Code setup.

You do not need 50 extensions. Start with these 5. They cover the basics: version control, formatting, error checking, code snippets for React, and API testing. Everything else is just extra.

Install them, configure them once, and let them do their job in the background. You will code faster and make fewer mistakes.