VSCode Memo

Shortcut keys

• Open commands: <Command>+<Shift>+p

Settings

Three tier settings

  flowchart TB
A["Defalut Settings (builtin, read-only, defaultSettings.json)"]
B["Profile Settings (your active profile's settings.json)"]
C["Workspace Settings (project specific, .vscode/settings.json)"]

A --> |overriden by| B --> |overriden by| C

Default settings

• Read-only
• View via Preferences: Open Default Settings (JSON)
• Merged from
  • VS Code core defaults
  • Every installed extension’s declared defaults (package.json)

Each extension ships with a package.json that declares its contributed settings and their default values. When the extension is activated, VS Code merges those into the live default settings layer.

For example, in the defaultSettings.json, you can see below settings injected by Pylance extension.

"python.analysis.typeCheckingMode": "off"  // Pylance's default

Profile settings

• Synced to GitHub account
• Open via Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON)

For example, to turn on type checking of Pylance, override the settings in user profile settings.json.

{
    "python.analysis.typeCheckingMode": "standard",
}

Workspace settings and workspace-only settings

• Open via Preferences: Open Workspace Settings (JSON)
• .vscode/settings.json
• Project specific settings:
  • .vscode/extensions.json: recommends extensions relevant to this project’s language and tooling.
  • .vscode/launch.json: defines how to run and debug this specific application — its entry points, arguments, environment variables.
  • .vscode/tasks.json: defines build/run/test tasks for this project — its Makefile targets, test commands, etc.