Photo by Mohammad Rahmani on Unsplash

So I was pair programming with a junior dev last year and watched him manually click through the file explorer to open every single file he needed. For like 20 minutes. I didn't say anything at first because I didn't want to be that guy, but eventually I had to intervene. Turns out he'd been using VS Code for six months and never touched a keyboard shortcut. Not one. That conversation is basically the reason I'm writing this.

These aren't the "here's how to install an extension" kind of vs code tips. I'm skipping the fluff. This is the stuff I actually use every day, the stuff I see experienced devs using, and a couple of things that genuinely surprised me when I found them.

The Command Palette Is Your Best Friend and You're Ignoring It

If you remember one thing from this post, make it this. Ctrl+Shift+P on Windows/Linux, Cmd+Shift+P on Mac. That opens the Command Palette, and it basically lets you run any VS Code action without touching your mouse. Format document, toggle terminal, change language mode, install extensions — all of it. I've seen people hunt through menus for two minutes looking for something that would've taken three keystrokes here.

Related to this: Ctrl+P (or Cmd+P) opens Quick Open for files. Start typing a filename and it fuzzy-matches across your entire project. Way faster than the sidebar. Once you combine these two, you'll barely touch your mouse for navigation.

Multi-Cursor Editing Is Ridiculous Once You Get It

This one took me embarrassingly long to actually learn. If you need to edit multiple lines at once — say, adding a semicolon to 15 lines, or renaming a repeated variable across a block — you don't need to do it one line at a time.

Hold Alt (or Option on Mac) and click wherever you want to place additional cursors. But here's the better trick: highlight a word, then hit Ctrl+D repeatedly (or Cmd+D on Mac) to select the next occurrence of that same word. Each hit adds another cursor at the next match. So if you've got a variable called userData repeated eight times in a function and you want to rename it, select one, hammer Ctrl+D until they're all selected, then just type the new name. Done.

For selecting all occurrences at once: Ctrl+Shift+L. That's the nuclear option.

The Integrated Terminal Is More Powerful Than You Think

Honestly, I know people who still alt-tab to a separate terminal window while working in VS Code and I don't understand it. The built-in terminal (Ctrl+` to toggle) supports multiple instances, split panes, and you can even set different shells for different terminals in the same session.

Here's the insider trick most people miss: right-click any file in the Explorer sidebar and choose "Open in Integrated Terminal." It opens a new terminal already cd'd into that file's directory. Stupid simple, saves constant cd commands.

Also worth knowing — if you're running PowerShell 7 or a custom shell, you can set VS Code to use it by default. Go to your settings JSON (Ctrl+Shift+P → "Open User Settings JSON") and add:

"terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.windows": "PowerShell",
"terminal.integrated.profiles.windows": {
  "PowerShell": {
    "source": "PowerShell",
    "icon": "terminal-powershell"
  }
}

Works similarly for bash or zsh on Mac and Linux. Once you set this up you never think about it again.

Zen Mode and the Layout Stuff Nobody Configures

When I need to actually focus on a single file — no distractions, no sidebars — I hit Ctrl+K Z (that's a chord: press Ctrl+K, release, then press Z). That's Zen Mode. Full screen, centered content, everything else hidden. Press Escape twice to get out. I use this constantly when I'm in the middle of a gnarly debugging session and don't need anything else on screen.

Also, if you haven't tried the split editor view, try dragging a file tab to the right side of the editor area. Now you've got two files side by side. Or use Ctrl+\ to split the current editor. This is genuinely useful for referencing a config file while editing code, or comparing two implementations.

Settings Sync — Set It Up Once, Never Lose Your Setup Again

This one's more of a "why haven't you done this yet" tip. VS Code has built-in Settings Sync that backs up your extensions, keybindings, snippets, and settings to your GitHub or Microsoft account. If you get a new machine, or if your laptop dies (and it will), you log in and everything just comes back.

Turn it on: Ctrl+Shift+P → "Settings Sync: Turn On." Sign in with GitHub. That's literally it. I've set up a new dev machine in under 10 minutes because of this. Before this existed I had a janky dotfiles repo that I'd forget to update for months at a time. This is better.

The One Trick That Feels Like Cheating

Okay, this is the one I love showing people. You can open VS Code in any GitHub repo — without cloning it — just by pressing . (period) on the keyboard when you're viewing that repo on GitHub.com. It opens a full VS Code web editor right in your browser with the entire codebase loaded. Read-only by default for repos you don't own, but for your own repos you can make edits and commit from there.

I use this constantly for quick reviews or when I'm on someone else's machine and don't want to mess with their setup.

A Quick Note on Extensions

I won't list 40 extensions because that's not the point here. But one productivity setting people sleep on: disable extensions you don't need for specific workspaces. Too many active extensions genuinely slows VS Code down. In the Extensions panel, you can right-click any extension and choose "Disable (Workspace)" so it only runs where you actually need it. My Python extensions don't need to be running when I'm editing markdown docs, you know?

Alright, hope some of this saves you a few hours of frustrated clicking. The multi-cursor one alone is worth the read — once it clicks (no pun intended), you'll use it every single day.