11 Awesome JavaScript Extensions for Visual Studio Code

Introduction

One of the most impressive parts of Visual Studio Code is customizability, especially via extensions. I won’t cover framework-specific extensions, but here are some of the best extensions in VS Code for writing JavaScript.

JavaScript (ES6 Code Snippets)

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=xabikos.JavaScriptSnippets

Snippet extensions are one of the most popular categories of extensions, and this one follows suit. It includes snippets for modern ES6 JavaScript, which is what you should be writing (or learning if you haven’t already). Although this snippet is not specific to any framework, these snippets can be triggered from several different file types.

• JavaScript (.js)
• TypeScript (.ts)
• JavaScript React (.jsx)
• TypeScript React (.tsx)
• HTML (.html)
• Vue (.vue)

Here are a couple of my favorites that you should try out!

• imp - import a module
• imd - import a named export
• fre - generate for each loop through array
• anfn - generate anonymous function
• thenc - add then and catch declaration to a promise

There are many others, so go give them a try!

Quokka

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=WallabyJs.quokka-vscode

Have you ever wanted to test out a function or play around with some JavaScript code? Sometimes you can test right in the Chrome Dev Tools console, sometimes you’ll open up a CodePen. With Quokka.js, you can create a scratchpad right inside VS Code!

Test out your JavaScript quickly and easily with Quokka.js.

Prettier

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=esbenp.prettier-vscode

An opinionated code formatter that can format your JavaScript code automatically. By having Prettier installed, you never have to worry about formatting; just let the computer take care of it!

It can be a little hard to get used to having your formatting handled for you as I’m sure a lot of devs have their own style that they like. Having Prettier on a team ensures that everyone follows the same style of coding.

Debugger for Chrome

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=msjsdiag.debugger-for-chrome

Although console.log() has its place, it’s not the best way to debug. Chrome has debugging tools built-in, but did you know you can also debug directly in VS Code using this extension?

I personally prefer to debug using this extension. This means that I can stay inside of the editor that I’m used to, make changes on the fly, etc. You can do most of the things that you would expect when debugging.

• set breakpoints
• step through lines of code, function calls, etc.
• watch variables
• view your console output

ESLint

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=dbaeumer.vscode-eslint

With so many amazing tools out there, you should not be stressing over formatting your code. ESLint is one of many that can auto-format your code (on save if you choose). Additionally, the linting aspect can “yell” at you (for lack of a better word) to encourage or require you to follow certain guidelines.

ESLint or TSLint (for TypeScript) are often configured with many starter projects, so you may not even have to configure it yourself. Just by creating a new project and opening it up in VS Code, you’ll have all the help you need to write consistent code!

Import Cost

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=wix.vscode-import-cost

If you’re worried about the size of the packages and modules that you import into your app, check out this extension! Next to your import statements, you will see the size of the package you are importing. This is a great way to ensure the size of your app bundles is as small as possible!

Path IntelliSense

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=christian-kohler.path-intellisense

When trying to reference a file in your workspace, it can be tough to remember exact file paths and names. I try to keep my menu bar in VS Code closed most of the time (to maximize code real estate), so I hate having to open the file explorer just to double-check where a file is located. That’s where Path IntelliSense comes in!

This extension will provide you IntelliSense when referencing file paths. All you have to is start typing a path inside of quotes and you’ll get IntelliSense for folder and file names.

View Node Package

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=dkundel.vscode-npm-source

Click on your require or import lines in your code and click straight to the GitHub repo.

Very helpful when you want to jump to GitHub to view some source code or look through docs/issues.

Better Comments

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=aaron-bond.better-comments

This extension is probably the least popular of the bunch, but I personally find it incredibly useful. So, you know when you have a piece of code you need to implement or finish later? Or when you want to mark a piece of code as deprecated? Or when you have a question for another developer about a piece of code?

This extension will provide color-coded comments to solve all of the above. Here’s a list of the available color codes.

• Alerts
• Queries
• TODOs
• Highlights

NPM Intellisense

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=christian-kohler.npm-intellisense

Ever gone to import a package and forgot exactly what the name is? Well, no more! This extension will provide the package IntelliSense when importing based on the npm packages that you have installed.

Wallaby.js

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=WallabyJs.wallaby-vscode

Run your tests as you code! From the people that brought us Quokka.js, here’s a cool tool to speed up your development.

Conclusion

Got any more awesome JavaScript extensions? Let us know down in the comments.

Thanks for reading!