How to Install Visual Studio Code on Ubuntu

Microsoft's Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a source-code editor developed for Windows, Linux, and macOS. The code editor supports debugging, syntax highlighting, automatic code completion, snippets, embedded Git control, etc.

VS Code is open source. It supports many extensions and acts as a version control system, which facilitates project collaboration.

In this tutorial, you will learn to install, uninstall, and start VS Code on Ubuntu.

Prerequisites

• A system running Ubuntu.
• An account with sudo or root privileges.
• Access to the terminal.

How to Install Visual Studio Code on Ubuntu

There are three ways to install VS Code on Ubuntu:

• With the snap package.
• Using the apt package manager.
• Via the Ubuntu Software GUI app.

Choose an installation method and follow the steps below to install VS Code.

Method 1: Install Visual Studio Code on Ubuntu with Snap

Snap packages are containerized applications. Run the following command to install the VS Code self-contained snap package with the required dependencies:

sudo snap install --classic code

Verify the installation by checking the program version:

code --version

Method 2: Install Visual Studio Code on Ubuntu with apt

Another way to install VS Code is via the APT package manager. Follow the steps below to install VS Code using the apt command:

1. Update the system repository and ensure you get the latest VS Code version with:

sudo apt update

2. For proper operation, VS Code requires package dependencies. Run the following command to resolve package dependencies, including downloading necessary files with the wget command:

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

The command automatically installs any VS Code dependencies.

3. To verify the VS Code package integrity, import Microsoft's GPG key and store it in the proper location:

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

The command has no output.

4. Run the following command to add the Visual Studio Code repository to your system:

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/packages.microsoft.gpg] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code stable main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscode.list'

The command has no output.

5. To ensure you have the latest VS Code version, update the package repositories again:

sudo apt update

6. Install VS Code with:

sudo apt install code

7. Verify VS Code installation by running:

code --version

If the installation is successful, the output shows the program version.

Method 3: Install Visual Studio Code on Ubuntu Using the GUI

Follow the steps below to install VS Code using the Ubuntu App Center:

1. Click the Show Applications button and open the Ubuntu App Center app.

2. Click the Search button and type vscode in the search bar.

3. Click code on the list to open the app page.

4. Click the Install button and, when prompted, type in your administrator password to start the installation.

How to Start Visual Studio Code on Ubuntu

To start the program, take the following steps:

1. Click the Show Apps button and locate Visual Studio Code in the app list.

2. Click the app to open it.

3. Start customizing the appearance, adding extensions for the programming languages you need, etc.

Uninstall Visual Studio Code

Depending on the installation method, use one of three ways to uninstall VS Code:

• Remove the VS Code snap app by running the following command:

sudo snap remove code

The command removes VS Code and notifies you of the result.

• If you installed VS Code via apt, uninstall the program by running:

sudo apt remove code

• If you installed VS Code via the Ubuntu App Center, open the Ubuntu App Center and locate the code app. Click the three dots, and then Uninstall.

Conclusion

This guide explained how to install and uninstall VS Code on Ubuntu using three methods. It also showed how to launch the app.

Next, read about the best Python IDEs and code editors, or see our list of 22 best Linux text editors for coding.