How to Install Visual Studio Code Editor in Fedora and CentOS

Visual Studio Code (not Visual Studio IDE) is a lightweight source code editor for JavaScript, TypeScript and Node.js Applications. It also has extensions for multiple other programming languages like C++, C#, Python, PHP, Go, etc. This tutorial will help you to install Visual Studio Code on CentOS, RHEL, Fedora and its derivatives systems. Remember that Visual Studio Code is Different than Visual Studio IDE

• How to Install Visual Studio Code Editor in Ubuntu & Debian
• How to Install Visual Studio Code Editor in SEL & openSUSE

Step 1 – Enable Yum Repository

Visual Studio code provides an official yum repository for the installation of package on Yum supported system. The same repository can be used for Fedora systems to use with dnf. Let’s create a new file /etc/yum.repos.d/vscode.repo and edit in your favorite text editor.

vim /etc/yum.repos.d/vscode.repo

Add the below content:

[vscode]
name=Visual Studio Code
baseurl=https://packages.microsoft.com/yumrepos/vscode
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc

Step 2 – Install Visual Studio Code

The Yum will manage the gpg key for you, But you can also Import the package signing GPG key on your system using the following command.

sudo rpm --import https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc

After importing GPG key, Let’s use commands to install Visual Studio Code on your RHEL based system.

## CentOS and RHEL system
sudo yum check-update
sudo yum install code

## Fedora systems:
sudo dnf install code

Step 3 – Launch Visual Studio Code

The Visual Studio Code has been installed on your system. You can now launch the Visual Studio Code editor on your system using desktop menu. After that create a new file or open files and directories using File menu.

Step 4 – Add Required Extensions

There are a large number of extensions available for Visual Studio Code like C#, Python, JavaScript, Google Chrome etc. Install the required extensions to enhance your working experience with Visual Studio Code.