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Welcome Contributors

Thank you for your interest in contributing to VS Code! There are several ways you can contribute, beyond writing code. This guide provides a comprehensive overview of how you can get involved in the VS Code open source project.

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Ways to Contribute

Report Issues

Help us identify and fix bugs in VS Code

Submit Code

Fix issues and add new features

Improve Docs

Help improve our documentation

Answer Questions

Support the community on Stack Overflow

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Asking Questions

Have a question about VS Code? We encourage you to ask on Stack Overflow using the tag visual-studio-code.
The active VS Code community on Stack Overflow will be eager to assist you. Your well-worded question will serve as a resource to others searching for help.
Instead of opening an issue for questions, Stack Overflow is the preferred channel as it:
  • Reaches a broader community of developers
  • Provides searchable answers for future users
  • Keeps the issue tracker focused on bugs and feature requests

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Providing Feedback

Your comments and feedback are welcome! The development team is available via several channels:
1

Stack Overflow

Ask questions using the visual-studio-code tag
2

GitHub Discussions

Connect with extension authors and discuss ideas
3

Social Media

Follow @code on Twitter for updates
4

Slack Community

Join the VS Code Dev Community
For more details, see the Feedback Channels wiki page.

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Reporting Issues

Have you identified a reproducible problem in VS Code? Do you have a feature request? Here’s how to report your issue effectively.

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Identify Where to Report

The VS Code project is distributed across multiple repositories. Try to file the issue against the correct repository:
1

Disable Extensions

Can you recreate the issue after disabling all extensions? If the issue is caused by an extension, file the issue on that extension’s repository.
2

Check Related Projects

Review the Related Projects list to find the appropriate repository for your issue.
3

Core VS Code Issues

If it’s a core editor issue, file it in the main vscode repository.

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Look For an Existing Issue

Before creating a new issue, search open issues to see if the issue or feature request already exists.
Be sure to scan through the most popular feature requests as well.
If you find an existing issue:
  • Make relevant comments
  • Add your reaction using GitHub’s reaction feature:
    • 👍 upvote
    • 👎 downvote
Use reactions instead of “+1” comments. This keeps the issue thread focused and makes it easier to gauge community interest.

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Writing Good Bug Reports

The built-in tool for reporting issues (accessible via Help > Report Issue) can help streamline this process by automatically providing:
  • Your VS Code version
  • All installed extensions
  • System information
  • Search results for similar existing issues
Every issue should include:
  • Version of VS Code: Include the exact version number
  • Operating system: Windows, macOS, or Linux with version
  • List of extensions: All installed extensions and their versions
  • Reproducible steps: Clear numbered steps (1… 2… 3…) that cause the issue
  • Expected vs actual behavior: What you expected to see versus what actually happened
  • Visual evidence: Images, animations, or video showing the issue
  • Code snippet: Demonstrate the issue with code (must be copy-pasteable, not just a screenshot)
  • Dev Tools Console errors: Open via Help > Toggle Developer Tools

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Writing Good Feature Requests

When requesting a new feature:
1

Single Request Per Issue

File a single issue per feature request. Don’t enumerate multiple requests in one issue.
2

Provide Context

Explain the problem you’re trying to solve and why existing features don’t address it.
3

Describe the Solution

Clearly describe how you envision the feature working.
4

Include Use Cases

Provide real-world scenarios where this feature would be beneficial.

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Final Checklist

Before submitting your issue:
  • Search the issue repository to ensure your report is new
  • Recreate the issue after disabling all extensions
  • Simplify your code around the issue to better isolate the problem
Don’t feel bad if the developers can’t reproduce the issue right away. They will simply ask for more information!

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Follow Your Issue

Once submitted, your report will go into the issue tracking workflow. Understanding this workflow helps you know what to expect and how to continue assisting throughout the process.

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Automated Issue Management

VS Code uses GitHub Actions to manage issues efficiently. These actions:
  • Automatically close issues marked info-needed if there’s no response in 7 days
  • Automatically lock issues 45 days after they are closed
  • Implement the feature request pipeline
If you believe the bot made a mistake, open a new issue and let the team know.

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Contributing Fixes

Interested in writing code to fix issues? Follow these resources:

Coding Guidelines

Learn VS Code’s coding standards

Pull Request Process

Understand the PR workflow

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Getting Started

1

Find an Issue

Look for issues labeled good-first-issue or help-wanted in the VS Code repository.
2

Set Up Development Environment

Follow the How to Contribute guide to build and run VS Code from source.
3

Make Your Changes

Implement your fix following the coding guidelines.
4

Test Thoroughly

Run existing tests and add new ones for your changes.
5

Submit a Pull Request

Follow the pull request guidelines to submit your changes.

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Documentation

Documentation improvements are always welcome! You can contribute to:
  • Code documentation: Improve JSDoc comments in the codebase
  • User documentation: Submit pull requests to vscode-docs
  • Wiki pages: Help maintain the VS Code wiki

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Contributing to Translations

Help make VS Code accessible to users worldwide by contributing translations. Visit the VS Code Localization project to get started.

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Development Container

VS Code includes a development container for easy setup:
Use the Dev Containers: Clone Repository in Container Volume… command to create a Docker volume for better disk I/O.
Docker container should have at least 4 Cores and 6 GB of RAM (8 GB recommended) to run a full build.

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Code of Conduct

This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. All contributors are expected to abide by these guidelines.
For more information:

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Thank You

Your contributions to open source, large or small, make great projects like VS Code possible. Thank you for taking the time to contribute!

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Additional Resources

Wiki

Comprehensive documentation

Roadmap

Future plans and direction

Related Projects

VS Code ecosystem