Meet VSCodium. A Visual Studio Code Alternative.
TL;DR: When Microsoft builds VS Code, it adds telemetry and tracking to the binary. VSCodium is a community-driven project that takes the same open-source VS Code codebase, builds it without telemetry, and distributes it under the MIT license. You get the same editor, same extension support, and same features -- just without the tracking. This post explains why VSCodium exists and walks through installation on Windows using Chocolatey.
This post describes how and why I switched to VSCodium from VSCode.
What is VSCodium ?
VSCodium is a community-driven, freely-licensed binary distribution of Microsoft’s editor VSCode. In simple words you can download VSCode binary open source build, instead of downloading from Microsoft.
Why choose VSCodium over VS Code?
When Microsoft build VSCOde binary, some telemetry and tracking is added, Read more in detail on vscodium.com.
VSCodium project exists so that you dont have to download from Microsofts VSCode download page. VSCodium project has build scripts, that clone the VSCode repo and create build. These binaries are licensed under the MIT license. Telemetry is disabled. These builds can be downloaded from GitHub releases.
How do I install VSCodium on Windows?
- Install chocolatey
Head over to the Chocolatey install page
Copy below command and run in powershell (run as admin)
Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force;
[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072;
iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))
- Run below command to install VSCodium with chocolatey
choco install vscodium
- Or you can download the exe file directly from GitHub releases
How do I move my VS Code settings to VSCodium?
See the official migration guide.
Your settings are stored in json file settings.json in location %APPDATA%\Code\User
Keep a backup of this file and Copy this file to %APPDATA%\VSCodium\User
Same can be done for keybindings.json
How does VSCodium differ from Microsoft's VS Code build?
| VS Code (Microsoft build) | VSCodium | |
|---|---|---|
| Source code | Open source (MIT) | Same source code |
| Binary license | Microsoft product license | MIT |
| Telemetry | Enabled by default | Disabled |
| Extension marketplace | Microsoft Marketplace | Open VSX Registry |
Some extensions published by Microsoft, such as the Remote Development extensions and Pylance, are licensed for Microsoft's builds only, so they may not install or work in VSCodium. Check the extension's page before you switch, and see the VSCodium docs for the current list of differences.
Conclusion
I liked the performace of VSCodium. Noticed some performace boost than VSCode.
After Checking in control panel found the size of installation for VSCode is 3MB more than VSCodium. So some extra things must be there in VSCode package.
There are some caveats with VSCodium like some extensions might not be directly installed from VSCodium, But those can be install using vsix files. Downloading directly from marketplace and then install by command
codium --install-extension myextension.vsix
Frequently Asked Questions
Where does VSCodium get extensions from?
From the Open VSX Registry by default, not the Microsoft Marketplace. If an extension is missing, download its .vsix file and install it with codium --install-extension.
Is VSCodium completely free of telemetry?
VSCodium's builds turn off Microsoft's telemetry by default. Some extensions collect their own telemetry, so check each extension's settings too.
How do I install VSCodium on macOS or Linux?
On macOS run brew install --cask vscodium. On Linux, use the packages or instructions on vscodium.com.