The best VS Code extensions to use in 2026?

for me, VS Code feels incomplete without Copilot. I’ve also been loving Kilo Code lately, it really speeds things up.

I've been tweaking this setup for about 6 months now, it's getting better by the day as the agentic harness matures, but plugins really help all this work well in VSCode and all its alternative "skins" / alternative IDEs - and I think the marketplace and extensibility made it such a success story. That being said, here's what I'm using - not just in terms of plugins, but also how they tie into the agentic vibe coding workflow:

1. Code completion: after extensive testing, @Github Copilot proved the most useful, at least for me.

2. Code styling and linting: I use a combination of @Prettier + ESLint + @MarkdownLint - tried using Biome, didn't stick, too immature and opinionated against my coding standards. Will give Ultracite a try as well.

3. Agentic harness: I use a multi-agent harness that supports Gemini, Claude, Codex, Composer, and even Copilot with seamless switching, and I structure my work using @OpenSpec and @mattpocock's wonderful skills like Grill me. I use a `change-log.md`, `open-questions.md`, `progress.md` and `session-resume.md` to track both project progress and current agentic state for seamless handover, and I baked their updates into all the agentic systems I'm using to great effect. I also borrowed a few skills from skills.sh and build a few of my own. That means lots of dedicated AI folders (`.agents`, `.claude`, `.codex`, `.cursor`, `.github`) but I also have a skill to keep them all in sync - `.agents` is the canonical, and changes there re-generate all the other harnesses.

4. Agentic workflow: Over a month's time, I'm switching between multiple IDEs - all VSCode skins basically, that can share its plugins marketplace - to maximize token usage: @Google Antigravity + @Cursor + @OpenAI Codex CLI + @Claude Code allows for maximum token usage at minimum price. Claude Code and Cursor Composer are my main drivers - Composer for regular tasks, @Claude Opus 4.7 1M with Max effort for planning and harder tasks - but they pair superbly with @Gemini 3.1 Pro High and Codex code reviews or debugging sessions. They actually find things the other models usually miss.

GitLens is something that I'm using daily especially for seeing who changed that line of code without going through git blame manually. Another thing that I'm using quite often is the JSON formatter - I need it for reading big files.

• The comment is already solid, I’ve just adjusted it and naturally included one of your anchor texts:

  Interesting results 👍

  VS Code’s ecosystem is really the main reason it keeps dominating extensions + marketplace make it hard to beat. For my workflow, I mostly rely on a few AI-assisted tools like GitHub Copilot for quick code generation and debugging, plus linting/formatting extensions to keep things clean. The real productivity boost usually comes from combining a good editor setup with consistent workflows rather than just one “magic” extension, similar to how a good grout repair company focuses on proper process instead of quick fixes.

For me, the biggest workflow improvements usually come from a small stack rather than too many extensions.

GitHub Copilot for quick iteration, GitLens for understanding history, Prettier/ESLint for keeping code clean, and Thunder Client or REST Client for testing APIs without leaving VS Code. I also like AI coding extensions when they help with focused tasks, but I try to keep them limited so the editor doesn’t become noisy.