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Visual Studio Code (Code – OSS)

An open-source code editor with rich extension support.

Code – OSS is the open-source upstream of Microsoft's Visual Studio Code. It provides a fast Electron-based editor with first-class support for many languages through extensions, an integrated terminal, source control, debugging via the Debug Adapter Protocol, and the Language Server Protocol — which Microsoft also originated and open-sourced as part of the same effort.

The Code – OSS codebase is MIT-licensed; Microsoft's downstream Visual Studio Code build adds proprietary telemetry, Microsoft branding, marketplace access, and the C/C++ extension's Microsoft-only debugger. On Linux, users who prefer to stay fully open-source can run upstream Code – OSS or community rebuilds such as VSCodium, which strip the Microsoft-specific parts and ship through OpenVSX (an open marketplace alternative).

Visual Studio Code in any of its flavours is now the dominant code editor by usage share. The extension ecosystem covers practically every popular language, framework, and developer workflow, and the Language Server Protocol it pioneered has unified IDE support across many editors (Neovim, Helix, Emacs, Sublime Text). Microsoft develops the upstream actively, with monthly releases and a regular extension-API extension process.

Microsoft VS Code:
  Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install code   # via Microsoft's APT repo
  Fedora/RHEL:   sudo dnf install code
  Arch (AUR):    yay -S visual-studio-code-bin
  macOS:         brew install --cask visual-studio-code
Open-source rebuild (VSCodium):
  snap install codium --classic
  flatpak install flathub com.vscodium.codium