Issue #157 (The U2 of VS Code Extensions?)04/23/25
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Today's intro is a tip on what not to do if you're a VS Code extension developer, particularly if you're releasing a new extension.
Earlier this month, the Docker team released a new extension called Docker DX, which they announced on their blog. Docker already has an official extension in the VS Code Marketplace that has more than 44 million installs. But note this comment in the aforementioned blog post:
If you’re already using the Docker VS Code extension, the new features are included — just update the extension and start using them!
That seems to imply that the new features will be somehow built in to the existing extension. But that's not what's happening. Notice the average star rating on the new extension, as shown in the screenshot below.
That's pretty ugly! It's not often you see 40+ reviews averaging at a single star. Notice if you click through to view the reviews, the users all have the same complaint.
As you can see in the old extension's changelog, when you update the old Docker extension, it will automatically add the new extension alongside the old one. And of course, having automatic updates on for the extension will install this as soon as the update is out. As shown above, one user even compared this behavior to U2, who infamously force-downloaded their 2014 album automatically onto iTunes users' devices without their consent!
In all honesty, I'm a little on the fence about this. I get why users are upset, and I know this is a little beyond what you'd normally view as an extension update. But if the same features were added into the existing extension, would that not be ok? Why does it matter so much if the features are part of a separate extension? It is by the same publisher. I suppose extra bloat and potential app sluggishness is one reason not to want it.
I'm not sure there's a simple solution to this, but it definitely caught my eye when I noticed the dozens of one-star reviews.
Now on to this week's hand-picked links!
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VS Code Tools
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Triplex — A VS Code extension, also available for Cursor, that allows you to build 2D and 3D components without coding, as a visual workspace for React and React Three Fiber. For more, see article link below.
1Minute Break — A VS Code extension designed to help developers maintain a healthy work routine by providing regular reminders for breaks, hydration, and custom activities.
Web Tools Weekly — My flagship newsletter, a weekly roundup of tools, scripts, plugins, and apps for front-end and full-stack web development. Sponsor
Code Screenshot — A VS Code extension that lets you open the current editor content in a tool called Code Screenshot, for instantly sharing code as an image.
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VS Code Theme of the Week
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Low Eye Strain Dark Neon — This is a package of 7 different themes, some of which are variations of existing popular themes. They're designed "to lower eye strain for night owls, youth devs and workaholics."
The one I'm showing above is the "neon" theme which is pretty wild but not as bad as it seems. It's pretty bold, but if you prefer more customary themes, the other ones are worth checking out, including a light theme and a variation with more contrast.
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VS Code Articles & Videos
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Supercharging the "Visual" in Visual Studio Code — From the Triplex blog, an official announcement of the extension I linked above, which is now in public beta.
📺 Terminal Tips in VS Code — A short video from the VS Code YouTube channel covering tips on auto-suggest, Copilot in terminal, font ligatures, and recently run commands.
Brain Food, Delivered Daily — Every day Refind analyzes thousands of articles and sends you only the best, tailored to your interests. Loved by 527,190 curious minds. Sponsor
Build a Stateless Microservice with GitHub Copilot in VS Code — If you use Flask, the popular Python-based micro framework for building web apps, this tutorial is worth a look.
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Best of the Rest
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Task Master — A task management system for AI-driven development with Claude, designed to work seamlessly with Cursor AI, and can be dropped into Cursor, Lovable, Windsurf, Roo, and others.
Neovim Cheatsheet — A categorized, searchable reference site to discover and bookmark essential Neovim and Vim commands, motions, and custom shortcuts, allowing you to create a personalized cheatsheet.
Tired of Late Payments and Messy Invoicing? — Learn proven strategies to speed up cash flow and ensure you get paid on time. Download this free guide and take control of your revenue today! Sponsor
How a Creator of React is Rethinking IDEs — From the Stack Overflow podcast, Tom Occhino, formerly of React, discusses how Vercel is rethinking IDEs, among other topics.
If you have any link suggestions, including a tool, article, or other resource related to VS Code or another IDE, you can hit reply, send it via DM on X, or via chat on Bluesky.
That's it for this issue.
Happy VS Coding!
Louis
VSCode.Email
@LouisLazaris
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