Ask any programming enthusiast about their preferred code editor, and you’ll probably hear the name VS Code in the conversation a couple of times, and for good reason. Its lightweight nature, coupled with robust code manipulation capabilities and solid compatibility with major operating systems, makes it ideal for most programmers – and you get a plethora of cool extensions to further boost its functionality.
As if that’s not enough, you can even fork VS Code (or at least, its non-proprietary codebase) to fine-tune the editor per your needs. In fact, there are plenty of IDEs and code editors out there that are based on VS Code, and they’re worth checking out if you need specialized tools for your coding needs.
This free VS Code extension uses your locally hosted LLM to help you code
You don't have to pay for generating code anymore
Cursor
A solid option for AI-aided coding
Although the Visual Studio Marketplace has a couple of LLM-centric extensions, Cursor is better for folks who want a quick and reliable AI integration without spending hours configuring different AI providers in VS Code. The auto-completion facility is quite useful when you want to create complex code that involves repetitive variables and functions, but its built-in AI agent is the real star of the show.
Capable of indexing your entire GitHub repo, Cursor can create long blocks of code from conversational inputs, and you can create rules to modify the AI generator’s behavior to your liking. If you encounter errors in the generated code, you can use natural language commands to modify multiple snippets at once. You can even use the app’s Bugbot integration to detect security issues in new PRs. Cursor also lets you pick between different AI models, and you can combine it with Slack, MCP servers, and other external tools to further simplify your coding tasks. The only caveat is that Cursor’s free usage limits are on the lower side, so you could max out its monthly limits if you’re a hardcore programmer. And that’s where Antigravity shines…
Google Antigravity
When you need agent-based automations for prototyping
On paper, Antigravity and Cursor have plenty of similarities. They’re both VS Code forks with AI-driven features and include a freemium model where you need to shell out extra money once you hit certain usage limits. However, Antigravity’s limits are a lot more lax, and since it can import data from Cursor, you can switch between the two IDEs when you run out of tokens on either one. Plus, Antigravity is more focused on customizing, managing, and running AI agents in parallel, so you can spawn multiple chat threads and use them simultaneously for your coding projects.
That said, Antigravity is not as mature as Cursor, so it’s better for prototyping projects than developing everything from scratch (not that it can’t generate useful code, mind you). I haven’t encountered too many bugs when designing Terraform configs and Ansible Playbooks with Antigravity, but I’ve heard horror stories about the tool breaking entire directories because it misinterpreted a command.
VSCodium
VS Code without Microsoft’s Eye of Sauron-esque “services”
On the other side of the AI debate, you’ve got FOSS enthusiasts like yours truly who get creeped out by Microsoft’s privacy-intrusive “services” bundled with VS Code. That’s where VSCodium comes in handy. Instead of incorporating additional tools into VS Code, VSCodium performs the simple task of removing Microsoft’s telemetry and data-tracking tools from the all-popular code editor.
Although it retains most of VS Code’s coding tools, debugging provisions, and customization features, VSCodium doesn’t rely on Microsoft’s official Marketplace for extensions. Instead, it includes the Open VSX Registry, which is a vendor-neutral extension repo that fits in line with the FOSS nature of the tool. Many of the popular VS Code extensions from Open VSX work well on VSCodium, though there are certain plugins that are broken on this fork, while others just aren’t available on the registry. Nevertheless, it’s a fantastic option for privacy-first coders who need a VS Code fork without any paywalled strings.
Code-Server
A self-hosted VS Code flavor that you can access from any device
If you consider yourself a hardcore home labber, Code-Server is easily my most recommended fork of Microsoft’s uber-popular IDE. While getting rid of Microsoft’s telemetry services gives it the same edge as VSCodium, Code-Server’s biggest draw lies in its containerized nature, as you can deploy it on a home lab node and access its code-editing features from a neat web interface.
This makes it handy for Android, iPad, and other systems that don’t support VS Code natively. By default, Code-Server doesn’t include Microsoft’s Extension Marketplace, but you can bring it to your web-based code editor by adding its URL as an environment variable. Like VSCodium, I’ve encountered trouble getting certain extensions (specifically AI-centric plugins) working with Code-Server, but most of the language, formatting, debugging, and appearance-modifying extensions work like a charm.
Or, you could ditch VS Code altogether and look into other code editors
As much as I adore VS Code, there are plenty of unique alternatives out there. For example, Zed is a powerful Rust-based code editor for folks who want maximum responsiveness, while Eclipse Theia is a privacy-first option if you’re tired of VSCodium and Code-Server. Heck, with enough plugins, you can even turn good ol’ Vim into a VS Code competitor.
These VS Code extensions scream or make faces when you make a coding mistake, and I absolutely love them
Because red squiggly lines are simply not dramatic enough.