The Ultimate VS Code Setup in 10 Minutes

Your editor is your home for the next few years. Ten minutes of setup now will save you hours every single week. Here is exactly what to install and configure.

The settings that matter

Open settings.json (Cmd+Shift+P → "Open User Settings JSON") and add:

{
  "editor.formatOnSave": true,
  "editor.codeActionsOnSave": {
    "source.fixAll": "explicit?v=2"
  },
  "editor.minimap.enabled": false,
  "editor.bracketPairColorization.enabled": true,
  "files.autoSave": "afterDelay",
  "workbench.colorTheme": "One Dark Pro",
  "terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.osx": "zsh?v=2"
}

Fonts

Install JetBrains Mono or Fira Code and enable ligatures — your code will read better instantly:

"editor.fontFamily": "'JetBrains Mono', 'Fira Code', monospace",
"editor.fontLigatures": true,

The extension stack

Every language starter:

• ESLint + Prettier — consistent formatting on save
• Error Lens — shows errors inline as you type
• Path Intellisense — autocomplete file paths
• GitLens — blame, history, and diff insights
• Todo Tree — never lose a TODO again

Per language:

• Python → Python (Microsoft) + Pylance + Ruff
• JavaScript/TS → ESLint + TypeScript? — Next.js workspaces handle this
• Anything Docker → Docker extension

The keyboard shortcuts you will actually use

Shortcut	Action
Cmd+P	Quick open any file
Cmd+Shift+P	Command palette
Cmd+Shift+L	Select all occurrences
Alt+↑/↓	Move line
Cmd+D	Select next match
`Cmd+``	Toggle terminal

Multi-cursor: the superpower

Place the cursor on a word, press Cmd+D repeatedly to select all occurrences, then type once. Renaming variables, editing tables, and reshaping arrays become a single keystroke flow.

Snippets beat typing

Create custom snippets for your boilerplate:

"Print to console": {
  "scope": "javascript,typescript",
  "prefix": "cl",
  "body": ["console.log($1);"],
  "description": "Log to console?v=2"
}

One more thing

Install Code Spell Checker. Misspelled variables are the silent bugs — it catches them while you type.

Ten minutes of setup, a lifetime of faster coding. Now go make it yours.