Top 10 Time-Saving VS Code Extensions Every Developer Should Try

Today, Visual Studio Code (VS code) is one of the most popular text editors for developers in recent years. With its large-scale customization ability and the plethora of features, VS Code allows users to install thousands of extensions that have the potential to supercharge productivity. Extensions help developers accomplish these coding tasks, improve the readability of code, automate the way we format our code, and also debug more effectively thus saving time. In this post, we will check some of the best time-saving VS Code extensions that a developer recommends to use for a more productive workflow.

Just like how tractor can improve farming efficiency and provide for manageable farms, these VS Code extensions speed up coding tasks which in turn makes development work much more enjoyable. Using appropriate extensions developers can browse their code, work with projects, and even do collaborations without any hitch yet swiftly. This post puts together the top 10 VS Code extensions that enable developers to work smarter and faster.

1. Prettier: Code Formatter

Objective: Format sequencing for consistent style throughout the project.

Advantages: We have a Prettier that automatically formats the code based on pre-defined rules, and makes it readable and clean. It helps save time by doing redundant and burdensome manual code changes, which is great for working on high-collaborative projects ensuring consistency is a top priority.

Make it format on save too! So each time you hit the save, Prettier automatically formats code in your files.

2. Live Server

Use-case: Live preview of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files as you write them.

Mainly: Live Server provides you with an instant live preview when editing your HTML, CSS & JavaScript files. This is more convenient than reloading the page every time to see changes.

Use Case: Great for front-end developers so they can quickly change UI elements and styles, displaying how their code changes will look in the browser side by side.

3. GitLens: Git Supercharged

Goal: At least better Git features than of VS Code built into it.

Advantages: Provides advanced Git features like showing who made changes to particular lines, history of code, and commit tracking. Helps save time in debugging and code reviews as it makes the version control easy to see & use.

Pro Tip: With GitLens, you can do all of this and keep up with other branches (without leaving VS Code).

4. Bracket Pair Colorizer

Goal: This makes it easier to find a matching pair of brackets in complex code instantly.

Pros: It is available for usage, which can help you better debug and read the nested structure because its color code matches brackets. Particularly helpful for heavy bracket-dependent languages like JavaScript/ Python

Tip: Changing the colours of brackets to match can make complex nesting structures more obvious, so you mess up your nicely structured deeply nested code less often.

5. Path Intellisense

Intention: Path completion in the code of yours.

Pros: Typing file paths by hand is a slow process and adds more possible errors. It helps you to write the paths quickly so that during coding it would save your time and also help in correct pathfinding based on your requirement, we can use this feature where projects have a folder structure with lots of files.

Tip: begin typing the name of a file or folder, and you will receive some suggestions from Path Intellisense.

6. ESLint

Objective: Linting & Formatting for JavaScript and TypeScript Code

Pros: In addition to finding bugs and errors, ESLint also can help enforce coding standards. This is mostly useful on projects where the consistency and reliability of code are really important.

Pro Tip: Use ESLint rules to enforce these coding standards on your team; you can see errors and warnings as soon as you type a line of code.

7. Debugger for Chrome

Use: For debugging Javascript code directly from VS Code in Chrome.

Advantages: It lets you set breakpoints, Step through the code, and inspect variables from VS Code itself removing back & forth and switching between Editor to Chrome DevTools.

Tip: Set breakpoints and console logs in VS Code to make it easier for you especially Javascript/Typescript projects when debugging.

8. TODO Highlight

Toggle IPython ViewThis plugin performs simple Search functionality to search `TODO` and `FIXME`.

Features: Allows developers to find unfinished tasks or flagged issues in humongous code bases easily so that attention can be given back and forth, helping make no stone go untouched.

Tip: For complex projects with multiple contributors, organize tasks and prioritize code changes using TODOs & FIXME tags surrounded by a descriptive comment.

9. Code Spell Checker

Purpose: Highlights typing errors in your code.

Spelling: This is often neglected when it comes to errors, but spelling mistakes within code comments or in your variable names can change the intent of what you are trying to say. It keeps your code error-free and makes it more professional by checking spelling mistakes in the content, particularly comments or documentation.

Tip: Personalize your dictionary to add words (or exclude the spell checker from flagging) unique to your profession.

10. Auto Rename Tag

Function: Automatically renames HTML/XML tag pairs.

Pros: Saves you time as well by integrating changes in paired tags to start synchronizing manually ifdef(retag) up when Auto Rename Tag is running. This is especially handy for common tasks on HTML elements which need to be re-produced time after time in web development.

Use Tip: Update tags personally instead of removing and re-entering. In fact, this comes in handy when you are working with huge HTML files.

Conclusion

Developers can do so much more with quicker results, fewer errors, and faster turnaround time by having a toolbox of useful VS Code extensions which makes the tools indispensable. Developers rely on extensions in the same way farmers need a tractor — to handle big fields quickly. Farmers can manage bigger projects hassle-free, and so too can developers via creating and using such tractors for large code bases or time-consuming tasks! These helpful VS Code extensions automate and simplify many programming tasks like auto-formatting code to view Git history.

From front-end developers who want real-time previews, to streamlining debugging and managing multiple files for back-end or full-stack developers there is something here that should appeal. Give them a spin, and let me know how much of your time you saved in your next coding session.