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Share settings

If you have VS Code and VS Code Insiders installed, but only want to manage one settings.json file, you can delete the Insiders on and point it at the main one.

macOS

$ rm "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Code - Insiders/User/settings.json"
$ ln -s "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Code/User/settings.json" \
   "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Code - Insiders/User/settings.json"

Preference

How to view and edit settings.

UI

Open Preferences from the menu in the top left of the window.

OR

Open the command-prompt and click Preferences: Open Settings (UI).

Global settings file

The location changes based on OS.

On macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/settings.json.

OR

Open the command-prompt and click Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON).

Project settings file

Add a file at this path: .vscode/settings.json.

OR

Open the command-prompt and click Preferences: Open Settings (JSON).

Change appearance

Open your Settings from the menu in the top left.

Color theme

UI

Go to Workbench, Appearance and set Color Theme.

Config

The default is Default Dark+ but there a lot to choose from.

{
  "workbench.colorTheme": "Monokai"
}

Color customizations

Or set this in a settings file.

Override colors, regardless of the theme.

{
  "workbench.colorCustomizations": {
    "activityBar.background": "#62b4a8",
    "titleBar.activeBackground": "#19423B",
    "titleBar.activeForeground": "#F6FBFB"
  }
}

Here is a setup for orange activity bar and tile bar, with black text.

{
  "workbench.colorCustomizations": {
    "activityBar.background": "#e4b533",
    "activityBar.foreground": "#0c1616",
    "titleBar.activeBackground": "#e4b533",
    "titleBar.activeForeground": "#0c1616"
  }
}

If you only want to override colors for a specific theme.

{
  "workbench.colorCustomizations": {
    "[Default Dark+]": {
      "activityBar.activeBackground": "#ff0000"
    }
  }
}

OR

Install the Window Colors extension.

This extension gives each new VS Code window a unique color based on a hash of the root directory name when it is opened. It does this by immediately writing three colors to the following settings in .vscode/settings.json…