How to Install Visual Studio Code (VS Code) on Ubuntu Linux

Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a powerful and lightweight source code editor developed by Microsoft. It supports a wide range of programming languages and offers built-in Git support, extensions, debugging tools, and more.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to install VS Code on Ubuntu Linux using the official Microsoft repository. This method ensures you always get the latest version through the apt package manager.

📥 Step 1: Update Your Package List

sudo apt update

🔑 Step 2: Install Required Dependencies

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

🔐 Step 3: Import Microsoft GPG Key

wget -qO- https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | gpg --dearmor > packages.microsoft.gpg
sudo install -o root -g root -m 644 packages.microsoft.gpg /usr/share/keyrings/
rm packages.microsoft.gpg

📦 Step 4: Add the VS Code Repository (for Ubuntu)

echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/packages.microsoft.gpg] \
https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscode.list

🔄 Step 5: Update Package List Again

sudo apt update

✅ Step 6: Install Visual Studio Code

sudo apt install code

🚀 Step 7: Launch VS Code

You can now launch Visual Studio Code from the terminal:

code

Or search for “Visual Studio Code” in your Ubuntu application menu.

💡 Bonus: Install Popular Extensions

Here’s how to install the Python extension from the terminal:

code --install-extension ms-python.python

Explore thousands of extensions using the Extensions panel inside VS Code.

🧪 Practice Tips

• Install useful extensions: code --install-extension <extension-id>
• Customize settings: press Ctrl + ,
• Open the Command Palette: press Ctrl + Shift + P