Juicy list of VSCode Extensions for React Native, JavaScript and general use

I use VSCode full-time since 2016. Before that, I was using its “bigger brother” — Visual Studio IDE and I was looking for a lighter editor.

This list started with my React Native setup in 2020. I’m no longer actively working with React Native, but the extensions below still cover useful React Native, JavaScript and general editor workflows. Some are in my current setup; others are tools from that earlier work that still have a place.

There is a bunch of general-use extensions that will increase the happiness of your coding time. Doesn’t matter what technology you are using!

Install counts below belong to each linked Marketplace listing and were checked on 2 October 2026. They show adoption, not active usage or a security audit. The list includes both official integrations and established community extensions; publisher identity, maintenance and built-in alternatives matter alongside popularity.

Must have — My top 3 VSCode extensions

ESLint

Integrates ESLint JavaScript into VS Code. Dirk Baeumer

Published by Microsoft, with over 53 million installs.

Linter is the most important tool while writing JavaScript code.

I started my career with C# and other strongly typed languages with rich-featured IDEs. It is natural to me that when something is underscored red it will not work.

This extension gives you nice feedback in the exact moment of writing. In my team, we’ve configured git hooks that won’t allow anyone to push project with linter errors. It makes project more stable. This also eliminates wasting time on pull requests. No more searching for typos or mistakes that are easily eliminated with a linter rule.

GitLens — Git supercharged

Git blame annotations and history navigation inside the editor. Published by GitKraken, with over 53 million installs.

I work in projects that have a long lifecycle. So I ofter work in files that were written by me or my teammates a long time ago. Then edited many times to satisfy business requirements.

Here is where git shows it’s power with the whole history of the file. This extension gives me tools to navigate through the history of the file commit by commit. Like in a book - page by page. Using arrow buttons.

It also shows the last commit for each line with the date, message and author’s name. I use it a lot to get the context of the code I’m looking at. Setting up mindset is much faster when you understand why somebody has written that line in this particular way.

Prettier - Code formatter

Code formatter using prettier Esben Petersen

Published by Prettier, with over 72 million installs. The Prettier documentation links to this extension.

Format your React Native code automatically to avoid time-consuming unneeded discussions among your team. We do formatting on every commit. I also have tendency to press “Format Document” shortcut very often…

Remember to setup .prettierrc config file with Prettier docs to customise your formatting.

VSCode extensions for React Native, React and JavaScript

VS Code already has JavaScript auto imports, Organize Imports and JSX auto-closing tags. Those features don’t need separate extensions. For paired JSX tag renaming, enable editor.linkedEditing.

React Native Tools

Run React Native commands, manage Metro and use supported debugging configurations from inside VSCode. It still makes sense if you prefer those controls in the editor.

Published by Microsoft, with over 6 million installs. Although the stable Marketplace release dates from March 2024, the Microsoft repository still has development activity in September 2026. Check its documentation against your React Native version before setting up debugging. Modern Hermes apps also have React Native DevTools, so this extension is optional for getting a debugger.

vscode-styled-components

CSS inside tagged template literals deserves colours too. This extension adds syntax highlighting, CSS suggestions and syntax-error reporting for styled-components in JavaScript and TypeScript.

Use the listing published by the styled-components organisation. That specific listing has nearly 2 million installs, but its last Marketplace release was in April 2023. It remains a specialised option for projects using styled-components; don’t read its popularity as evidence of frequent updates.

Color Highlight

Whenever I have a hex colour in my opened files, I like to see the colour itself. This extension can highlight a value such as '#AA0000' with a coloured background or border.

VS Code already offers colour decorators across file types. Try those first. Color Highlight, published by Sergii N under naumovs.color-highlight, is an optional choice for its different highlighting styles, with over 9 million installs; its latest release was in March 2024.

Highlight Matching Tag

Very useful for finding your way through a JSX tree. It highlights paired tags and can show the tag path in the status bar. Its configurable decorations and matching from tag attributes go beyond basic tag matching.

This is optional if VS Code’s own highlighting is enough for you. Published by vincaslt, it has over 3 million installs, though its latest release was in March 2023, so it belongs here as an established utility with infrequent releases.

Tailwind CSS IntelliSense

If your web project uses Tailwind, this extension adds class-name completion, linting and CSS previews on hover. It also shows colour swatches for Tailwind’s colour utilities.

Published by Tailwind Labs, with over 14 million installs. Tailwind’s official documentation links to this exact extension.

Other extensions

Working with a team

Atlassian: Jira, Rovo Dev, Bitbucket

For teams using Jira and Bitbucket, this brings issues, branches, pull requests and code reviews into the editor. Creating a branch from a Jira ticket was one of the things I liked about it.

Published by Atlassian, with over 3 million installs and a September 2026 release. The extension now also includes Rovo Dev features; the official project still provides the Jira and Bitbucket integrations that made it useful in the first place.

GitLab for VS Code

The official GitLab extension, formerly called GitLab Workflow. It lets you work with issues, merge requests and pipelines without leaving VSCode. Useful if your team’s repositories live on GitLab.

Published by GitLab, with over 3 million installs and releases in October 2026. GitLab maintains documentation for its editor workflows, including reviewing merge requests and validating CI configuration.

Marp for VS Code

I’m a huge fan of Markdown. I also need to make a presentation from time to time so I decided to make my decks in markdown.

Extra profit — slides are easily convertible into the documentation. So I make two things with one effort.

Published by the Marp team, with over 860,000 installs and an August 2026 release. Marp’s website links to this official extension.

This extensions brings the Marp ecosystem inside VSCode. For example deck preview. If you are making presentations I encourage you to read more on their website.

Real-time collaborative development from the comfort of your favorite tools. Microsoft

Published by Microsoft, with over 24 million installs and an April 2026 release.

This is great for pair programming. Especially useful with remote working and brainstorming with your team from home.

Improve coding experience

IntelliJ IDEA Keybindings

For some time I was working with PyCharm then IntelliJ, and keeping familiar shortcuts made moving to VSCode easier. This extension maps JetBrains-style shortcuts into the editor.

Published by Keisuke Kato, with over 2 million installs and a September 2026 release. I would mainly recommend it to someone migrating from JetBrains tools; otherwise, learning VSCode’s default shortcuts is a sensible starting point.

Markdown All in One

Keyboard shortcuts, list editing, table formatting and automatic table-of-contents updates for Markdown. Useful for documentation as well as writing articles.

Published by Yu Zhang, with over 14 million installs and a March 2025 release. Its source repository links to the same Marketplace listing.

Lorem ipsum

Generates and inserts lorem ipsum text Daniel Imms

Published by Daniel Imms, with over 1 million installs. Its latest Marketplace release was in December 2021; this is a small, established text-generation utility with infrequent releases.

Helpful tool for prototyping. Instead of copy-pasting some dummy text from the web I just type a command lorem: Insert a paragraph or lorem: Insert a line.

Themes worth checking

One Monokai Theme

A cross between Monokai and One Dark theme Joshua Azemoh

A dark theme I used when working with React Native. Published by Joshua Azemoh, with over 2 million installs and an August 2024 release.

Other languages support

shell-format

It’s like Prettier but for bash. It uses shfmt to format shell scripts through VSCode’s Format Document command.

Published by foxundermoon, with over 2 million installs and a July 2025 release. Useful alongside a linter: formatting takes care of layout, while ShellCheck looks for mistakes.

ShellCheck

ShellCheck is an open source static analysis tool that finds bugs in shell scripts. This extension brings its diagnostics into the editor, including problems with quoting and variable use.

I don’t write shell scripts often, and their syntax doesn’t forgive mistakes. Having feedback while editing is useful. Published by Timon Wong under timonwong.shellcheck, the extension has over 2 million installs and a September 2026 release; it bundles ShellCheck binaries for common desktop platforms.