How to install Visual Studio Code on Ubuntu 20.04

Visual Studio Code is a powerful open source code editor developed by Microsoft. It includes built-in debugging support, embedded Git version control, syntax highlighting, code auto-completion, integrated terminal, code reconstruction, and code snippet functions.

Visual Studio Code is cross-platform and is available on Windows, Linux, and macOS.

This guide shows two ways to install Visual Studio Code on Ubuntu 20.04. VS Code can be installed via Snapcraft Store or a deb package in the Microsoft source repository.

Choose the installation method that best suits your environment.

1. Install Visual Studio Code as a Snap package

The Visual Studio Code snap package is distributed and maintained by Microsoft.

Snaps is a self-contained software package that contains all the dependencies needed to run this application. The Snap software package is easy to upgrade and very safe. Unlike standard deb packages, snaps requires more disk space and longer application startup time.

The Snap package can be installed via the command line or Ubuntu software applications.

To install the VS Code snap version, open your terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run the following command:

sudo snap install --classic code

that's it. Visual Studio Code has been installed on your Ubuntu machine, and you can start using it.

If you like to use the GUI graphical interface, open the Ubuntu Software Center and search for "Visual Studio Code", then install the application:

Whenever a new version is released, the Visual Studio Code package will be automatically upgraded in the background.

2. Use apt to install Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code is available in the official Microsoft Apt source repository. To install it, follow the steps below:

Run the following command as a sudo user to update the package index and install dependent software:

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

Use the wget command to insert the Microsoft GPG key:

wget -q https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc -O-| sudo apt-key add -

To enable the Visual Studio Code source repository, enter:

sudo add-apt-repository "deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/vscode stable main"

Once the apt software source is enabled, install the Visual Studio Code package:

sudo apt install code

When a new version is released, you can upgrade the Visual Studio Code package through standard software tools on your desktop, or run commands on your terminal:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Three, start Visual Studio Code

Enter "Visual Studio Code" in the Activities search bar and click the icon to start the application.

When you start VS Code for the first time, a window similar to the following should appear:

You can start to install the plugin and configure VS Code to your liking.

VS Code can also be started by entering code on the terminal command line.

Four, summary##

We will explain how to install VS Code on Ubuntu 20.04.

Now you can start to install new plugins and customize your workspace. To learn more about VS Code, browse their Official Documentation Page.