Installation
If you want to open a file or folder on Visual Studio Code from your terminal, iTerm, etc below are the commands which come as default when you install Visual Studio Code. To open Visual Studio Code from command line. Code - To open the entire folder/directory. To open a specific file. Code filename eg:- code index.html. Visual Studio Code. Visual Studio Code is a lightweight code editor with support for many programming languages through extensions. To install the latest version, use Homebrew: brew install -cask visual-studio-code macOS integration. Launch VS Code from the command line. After that, you can launch VS Code from your terminal.
- Download Visual Studio Code for macOS.
- Open the browser's download list and locate the downloaded archive.
- Select the 'magnifying glass' icon to open the archive in Finder.
- Drag
Visual Studio Code.appto theApplicationsfolder, making it available in the macOS Launchpad. - Add VS Code to your Dock by right-clicking on the icon to bring up the context menu and choosing Options, Keep in Dock.
Launching from the command line
You can also run VS Code from the terminal by typing 'code' after adding it to the path:
- Launch VS Code.
- Open the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P) and type 'shell command' to find the Shell Command: Install 'code' command in PATH command.
- Restart the terminal for the new
$PATHvalue to take effect. You'll be able to type 'code .' in any folder to start editing files in that folder.
Note: If you still have the old code alias in your .bash_profile (or equivalent) from an early VS Code version, remove it and replace it by executing the Shell Command: Install 'code' command in PATH command.
Alternative manual instructions
Instead of running the command above, you can manually add VS Code to your path, to do so run the following commands:
Start a new terminal to pick up your .bash_profile changes.
Note: The leading slash is required to prevent $PATH from expanding during the concatenation. Remove the leading slash if you want to run the export command directly in a terminal.
Note: Since zsh became the default shell in macOS Catalina, run the following commands to add VS Code to your path:
Touch Bar support
Out of the box VS Code adds actions to navigate in editor history as well as the full Debug tool bar to control the debugger on your Touch Bar:
Mojave privacy protections
After upgrading to macOS Mojave version, you may see dialogs saying 'Visual Studio Code would like to access your {calendar/contacts/photos}.' This is due to the new privacy protections in Mojave and is not specific to VS Code. The same dialogs may be displayed when running other applications as well. The dialog is shown once for each type of personal data and it is fine to choose Don't Allow since VS Code does not need access to those folders. You can read a more detailed explanation in this blog post.
Updates
VS Code ships monthly releases and supports auto-update when a new release is available. If you're prompted by VS Code, accept the newest update and it will get installed (you won't need to do anything else to get the latest bits).
Note: You can disable auto-update if you prefer to update VS Code on your own schedule.
Preferences menu
You can configure VS Code through settings, color themes, and custom keybindings available through the Code > Preferences menu group.
Visual Studio Code Mac M1
You may see mention of File > Preferences in documentation, which is the Preferences menu group location on Windows and Linux. On a macOS, the Preferences menu group is under Code, not File.
Next steps
Once you have installed VS Code, these topics will help you learn more about VS Code:
Visual Studio Code Osx
- Additional Components - Learn how to install Git, Node.js, TypeScript, and tools like Yeoman.
- User Interface - A quick orientation around VS Code.
- User/Workspace Settings - Learn how to configure VS Code to your preferences settings.
Common questions
Why do I see 'Visual Studio Code would like access to your calendar.'
If you are running macOS Mojave version, you may see dialogs saying 'Visual Studio Code would like to access your {calendar/contacts/photos}.' This is due to the new privacy protections in Mojave discussed above. It is fine to choose Don't Allow since VS Code does not need access to those folders.
VS Code fails to update
If VS Code doesn't update once it restarts, it might be set under quarantine by macOS. Follow the steps in this issue for resolution.
Does VS Code run on Mac M1 machines?
Yes, VS Code supports macOS ARM64 builds that can run on Macs with the Apple M1 chip. You can install the Universal build, which includes both Intel and Apple Silicon builds, or one of the platform specific builds.
Two week ago, I had to reinstall all the tools I use on a new computer, since the previous one passed away ☠
And since I often use Visual Studio Code when developing, (please, no debate over which text editor is the best in the comment 😝), I had to reinstall it and make it easily accessible through the terminal.
The command code
For those who don’t know, Visual Studio Code has a shortcut, a command line tool named code, which allow you to use summon Visual Studio Code though your terminal.
Once setup up, you can use command line like code my_file_or_folder to open a file or a folder in Visual Studio Code. You can also add the option -n to open it in a new windows, or the option -h to display the help and have all the description of all the possibilities available to you. 😉
Setting up code on OSX
The first step to have the command code accessible is to install Visual Studio Code, obviously.If this is not already the case for you, then, follow this link, download and install it on your computer.
At this point, you should be able to open Visual Studio Code, without using the terminal 😉
So now, let’s focus on the main goal, being able to call the command code from your the terminal.To do so, you must open Visual Studio Code. Then press the keys command-shift-P (or ⌘-⇧-P), a text field should appear, stating with a >. Now, type 'Shell Command: Install ‘code’ command in PATH', and click on the option. Once installed (it shouldn’t be long), you will have a notification pop-ing up in the bottom right corner of Visual Studio Code.
All you have to do now, is to close your terminal and reopen it, and you will be able to run the command code. To make sure of it, you can run the command code -v to display your version of the command line installed 😉
Conclusion
Personally, I needed to write this post so that future me will be able to go back to it whenever he will need to do so 😆
And maybe some of you, awesome people, will need it in the future too, so here it is 😉
Thank you all for reading this article !And until my next article, have an splendid day 😉
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