Visual Studio Code

microsoft/vscodeReviewed by AI

What it does

Visual Studio Code is Microsoft's widely used code editor. It helps you write and fix code in almost any programming language, with color highlighting, smart suggestions, a built-in debugger, Git support and a large library of extensions. This repository holds the open-source base, called Code - OSS. The ready-to-install Visual Studio Code from code.visualstudio.com adds Microsoft-specific parts under a Microsoft product license. It is for programmers and anyone who edits code or text files. Installers exist for Windows, macOS and Linux.

How easy it is to install

A · download and open · Windows

Windows A
macOS A
Linux A

Microsoft offers a ready installer for Windows, macOS and Linux on code.visualstudio.com, so on every platform you download and open it; building from this repository is only needed by developers who contribute.

Numbers on GitHub

Stars: 194,427on Oct 31, 2026
Downloads: 828all releases
Growth: +75stars in 5 days

Stars over time

Facts

Runs on: Windows, macOS, Linux
You need to install: Nothing extra
To build from source: Node.js
Disk space: 100 MB–500 MB · estimate
Accounts or keys: GitHub account for Copilot AI features
Cost: Free · The source code is MIT. The official download is free but released under a Microsoft product license. Some add-ons and AI features, such as GitHub Copilot, have their own plans.
License: MIT (Permissive)
Can replace: Sublime Text, IDEs, Cursor
Last update: Oct 31, 2026

Risk signals (3)

Infoofficial build has different license
README.md: "Visual Studio Code is a distribution of the Code - OSS repository with Microsoft-specific customizations released under a traditional Microsoft product license." The GitHub releases (1.144.0, 1.143.1, 1.143.0) have no files; the installer comes from code.visualstudio.com, not from this repository.
AI review
Infoextensions run third party code
README.md describes "a rich extensibility model", and the Dev Containers link "will cause VS Code to automatically install the Dev Containers extension if needed". Extensions from the marketplace are made by many authors and run on your computer.
AI review
Infobuilt in ai assistant
Top-level folder "copilot_shim/" and package.json script "compile-copilot": "npm --prefix extensions/copilot run compile". The editor ships with GitHub Copilot integration, which sends code to an online AI service when you use it.
AI review

Evidence is shown in its original language.

What Radar could not check

What usage data (telemetry) the official build sends by default and how to turn it off.
Whether the official installer matches this source code exactly, given the Microsoft-specific additions.
What each third-party extension does with your files.
How Copilot handles the code you share with it.