Why and how you should migrate from Visual Studio Code to VSCodium

In this tutorial we'll go over why you should make the switch, and how you can retain all of your extensions when you do make the switch. It won't take more than a couple of minutes to do the actual change!

The problem with Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio code is without a doubt the most used Code editor (for front end developers at least). It definitely provides a lot of helpful extensions of which there have been umpteen posts about.

So why would I suggest you uninstall it for something else?

Whilst Microsoft’s vscode source code is open source (MIT-licensed), the product available for download (Visual Studio Code) is licensed under this not-FLOSS license and contains telemetry/tracking.

...may collect information about you and your use of the software, and send that to Microsoft... You may opt-out of many of these scenarios, but not all...

Microsoft insist this is for bug tracking and so on, which may well be true. But you never know what else the data could end up being used for in the hands of someone unscrupulous.

You can turn off telemetry reporting in Visual Studio Code, but there are plenty of opportunities for Microsoft to add other features in, which may slip past your attention.

Run this command in your terminal and check your output

code --telemetry

Not great, lets change it.

VSCodium

VSCodium ... is not a fork. This is a repository of scripts to automatically build Microsoft's vscode repository into freely-licensed binaries with a community-driven default configuration.

This means we don't have to go through the hassle of building each version ourselves, everything is done for us and the best part is we get these binaries under the MIT license. Telemetry is completely disabled.

Moreover, the editor itself looks and functions exactly the same, you won't miss a thing!

That's a pretty simple and compelling argument.

How to install VSCodium and keep all your extensions and settings

This is the easy part. I will focus upon macOS, but these instructions are pretty simple to amend to other platforms.

updated to include settings

Make sure you have Homebrew installed:

/usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

1. Export all your installed extensions

First export all of your installed extensions into a text file (amend the output path as you see fit)

code --list-extensions | tee ~/vscode-extensions.txt

This will output all of your extensions to ~/vscode-extensions.txt and list them out in your terminal for you to see.

2. Export your settings

Export any custom keybindings and user settings you have as default.

cp ~/Library/Application\ Support/Code/User/settings.json ~/vscode-settings.json

cp ~/Library/Application\ Support/Code/User/keybindings.json ~/vscode-keybindings.json

3. Uninstall Visual Studio Code

We use the force argument so that nothing gets left behind that would clash or interrupt VSCodium's install.

brew cask uninstall --force visual-studio-code

4. Install VSCodium

brew cask install vscodium

5. Reinstall your extensions for VSCodium

Because VSCodium has the same command line tools, we invoke them the same was as before

xargs -n1 code --install-extension < ~/vscode-extensions.txt

This went through the file and executed code --install-extension on each line individually.

You should have seen the output in your terminal.

If you get a DeprecationWarning: Buffer()... warning, you don't need to worry, it's related to Yarn and can be resolved with yarn global add yarn

6. Import your settings

mv ~/vscode-settings.json ~/Library/Application\ Support/VSCodium/User/settings.json

mv ~/vscode-keybindings.json ~/Library/Application\ Support/VSCodium/User/keybindings.json

Now you should be set and ready to go, the only thing you should notice is the logo is different. Everything else will work, feel and function the same as before.

Happy coding devs!

Comments

[saint4eva]

The reason is not compelling enough. So, I am going to stick to VS Code - it is a great product.

[Josh]

VSCodium is literally the exact same product, just under the license Microsoft purports to release VSCode under

[Lewy Blue | Discover three.js]

The exact same product with loads of extra setup steps and only dubious benefits.

[Mr F.]

not at all, the only extra steps were migrating from Visual Studio. Everything else is the same. What do you think is dubious?

[Josh]

brew cask install vscodium == extra setup steps? O_o

OH. You must mean "keystrokes". Yeah i guess it's, like, two more of those.

[saint4eva]

I do not have any issues with the license.

[Josh]

🥇

People other than you still might, though

[Zenobius Jiricek]

With the amount of people that Voted for Joe Biden, you will be dissapointed to learn that "other people than you" is remarkebly small.

People don't care about their freedom.

[John Corley]

People don't get you are literally using the same product. From the exact same repo.

[Rafael Brugnollo]

Dunno if I agree with that. Microsoft has all the work to build a product that, as you said, most of devs are using, and then offers it for free. So I think it's only fair to use and endorse their product if you like it.

[John Corley]

No because they allow you to build it yourself. It's open source, but the installer isn't. So you are arguing for using their installer....not vscode

[Mr F.]

Valid argument. However this isn't effecting their bottom line. Ultimately this is a tool to upsell into and buy other services such as Azure, which I'm signed up to and happy with.

[Al]

Please stop that moaning... Telemetry is good, useful and anonymous. It is also the reason why vscode is so good. In few years people will forget Web storm. And let's be honest. How does Microsoft or anyone else care but you? You really think you're worth the target?

[Mr F.]

Different strokes for different folks.

It's not about being a target. It's about a choice, I'm making one because it's available and I'm sharing it with anyone else who wants the same. This is not a moan, this is some information, how you perceive it is down to you.

[John Corley]

Hmm.....what about Brave browser then?

[Rohan Mishra]

To add to what Al said, anonymous telemetry is good. Projects like brave and VSCodium usually heavily depend on projects that are improved by anonymous telemetry. Now, some people might not be comfortable even with this but in all honesty people who use software for free and wont even provide crash reports and other general telemetry ARE leaching off people who do without giving back. VSCodium is great because it is VSCode but if it were a hard fork without ever pulling updates from upstream (MS VSCode) and decided to work on their own, I doubt it be able to keep up with them in terms of improvement without insights on how users are using the software and where are things faltering (assuming all other factors like userbase, effort, etc are equal).

[Beni Cherniavsky-Paskin]

I'm also OK with sending telemetry, I assume it helps the project. But I'd prefer to run only open-source binaries (out of FOSS purity), so I'm considering to switch.

[Si]

But you never know what else the data could end up being used for in the hands of someone scrupulous

I read this as "in the hands of someone scrumptious" and got very confused for a couple of seconds :)

[Mr F.]

😂😂 - or even sumptuous?

[Michael J. Ryan]

Should be "unscrupulous" in the context. Someone scrupulous is honorable.

That said, you can see what is being collected, and how in the source code. Also, there's a lot of data with them just running the plugins repository, which you haven't and largely couldn't replicate.

[Si]

Also, there's a lot of data with them just running the plugins repository, which you haven't and largely couldn't replicate.

You're responding to the wrong person

[Rómulo Lazarde]

I installed codium three weeks ago and I had to disable telemetry. I was irritated about that.
anyhow, I am still using it.

And for those who claim to not care about giving your data away...
youtube.com/watch?v=hIXhnWUmMvw

Cheers and stay safe and healthy

[Anas Basheer]

Damn, thats a scary video. I've been thinking of dropping Google and other services that track my data. But I wasn't in such a pressure to do it as they do pretty well. But this video made me want to change it today. Its a pretty scary tech world right now.

[kinghat]

you could probably just use the Settings Sync extension to move all extensions/settings/data over

[Mr F.]

Looks like an interesting alternative! The reason I did it via command line is because I intend to plug the commands into my dotfiles

[Gayan Hewa]

It's a choice for those who are pretty vested about tracking. I guess in my personal opinion for me at least that Microsoft has given the option to do so builds trust that they are not what they used to be ( Looking at you Ballmer ) and other than that is a great product. And having to run trough all these steps wouldn't be my cup.

[Nikita Rudenko]

I tried VSCodium before. It's absolutely the same as VSCode, it's true. But the reason I switched back to VSCode is that it has a better logo. Yeah, telemetry isn't an argument for me.

I found an interesting use case for VSCodium though. I set it up and use for Python only. VSCode is for frontend only.

[Coner Murphy]

I was and to a certain extent still am a complete advocate for privacy and security. I believe our data should stay our data unless we consent otherwise.

However, with this being said very few people are willing to commit to a life of complete online privacy. Try getting rid of all Google, Apple, Microsoft and all other big tech companies products. It's unfortunately just not feasible in the world we live in.

So, while I'd love to switch away to a product like this that respects my privacy more than the original, I feel like the pain points it'll introduce like delayed updates, possible bugs, less support and other issues stops me.

I do respect anyone who takes the pursuit for privacy seriously but the drop of convenience and productivity it often causes is to much for me. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Mr F.]

Likewise. I use macOS and have jumped back and forth from various linux distros for the reasons you outlined.

I held off moving to VSCodium because Visual Studio Code was good enough with telemetry disabled. But I made the switch anyway and it's been pain free so far.

[Coner Murphy]

I'm currently using Pop OS (a version of Ubuntu) after moving from Windows 10 (because of privacy) but due to the lack of support for software like Adobe. (I do expect this for Linux due to the nature of it). But, I'm heavily debating a switch to MacOS for this reason but my main pain point is how much Apple charge for it.

I would move off VS Code but I've found if companies are going to take my data, I want something in return. This is why I'm not against using Google and its services. I might as well get a service off them for giving them my data.

[Mr F.]

Unless you use something like freebsd, there is always a compromise to be made. I run my own wireguard vpn, use protonmail. But I also use a bunch of things just to get stuff done. It's just a case of taking control where feasible I guess.

[Coner Murphy]

That's exactly my mentality, I admit I could commit more. I could move off Gmail but to do so would be a lot of work and I'm not sure what I'd actually gain from it.

I love that the options exist and they definitely should but unfortunately I think the convenience these big companies offer to everyone outweighs people's desire to control their data. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Mr F.]

[DigikaZ]

Disabling telemetry does nothing, this option is fake and exist for sole purpose that it achieved in your case - to calm you down. Here is proof reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/80d8...

[Rohan Mishra]

well technically, it shouldn't pose any issue since your are using the same thing minus the telemetry.

That said, I personally would still stick to VS Code.

[Jasper Van Gestel]

Don't forget to add a \ between Application and Support in steps 2 and 5.
Otherwise the path will be incorrect and the cp and mv commands will fail.

Eg: ~/Library/Application\ Support/VSCodium/User/settings.json

[Mr F.]

thanks for pointing that out! updated