How to Install Visual Studio Code on Ubuntu 18.04

Visual Studio Code is a and open source cross-platform code editor owned by Microsoft. It includes support for debugging, embedded Git control and GitHub, syntax highlighting, intelligent code completion, snippets, and code refactoring. You can extend Visual Studio Code functionality using extensions. In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Visual Studio Code on Ubuntu 18.04 system.

Prerequisites#

Before you start installation, Make sure you are logged in with non-root user account with administrative privileges.

Install Visual Studio Code on Ubuntu#

Follow the below steps to install Visual Studio Code on your Ubuntu system:

At first, you should update the packages index list using below command:

sudo apt update

Next, you need to install dependencies using following command:

sudo apt install software-properties-common apt-transport-https wget

Now, you have to import the Microsoft GPG key using the following wget command:

wget -q https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -

Execute the below command to enable the Visual Studio Code repository:

sudo add-apt-repository "deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/vscode stable main"

Once the repository enabled then again you have to update the packages index list by typing:

sudo apt update

Finally, you have to type below command to install Visual Studio Code on your system:

sudo apt install code

That’s it. You have successfully install Visual Studio Code on your Ubuntu desktop and it’s ready to use.

Start Visual Studio Code#

Now Visual Studio Code is installed on your system. You can launch it using terminal by typing code or by clicking on the VS Code icon (Activities -> Visual Studio Code).

When it will launch first time by your system it will look screen like as below:

Now you can use and customize the Visual Studio Code by installing extensions.

Update Visual Studio Code#

You can update the Visual Studio Code when a new version is released. You can update it through your desktop standard Software Update tool. Alternatively, you can update by running the following commands in your terminal:

sudo apt update

sudo apt upgrade

Conclusion#

You have successfully installed VS Code on your Ubuntu 18.04 system. You can install extensions and configuring VS Code according to your preferences. Install Additional Components and customize your User and Workspace Settings. To get more details about VS Code visit their official documentation page.

If you have any questions or suggestion, please leave a comment below.