Setting Up VS Code

Step 1: Install VS Code

brew install --cask visual-studio-code

Open VS Code from your Applications folder or Spotlight (⌘ + Space → "Visual Studio Code").

Step 2: Enable the code . command

VS Code can't be opened from the terminal by default — you need to add the code command to your PATH:

1. Open VS Code
2. Press ⌘ + Shift + P to open the Command Palette
3. Type Shell Command and select Shell Command: Install 'code' command in PATH
4. Restart Ghostty

Test it:

code --version

Now anytime you're in a project folder, just run code . to open it in VS Code.

Step 3: Install essential extensions

Open VS Code and press ⌘ + Shift + X to open the Extensions panel. Search for and install these:

Or install them all from the terminal at once:

code --install-extension biomejs.biome
code --install-extension eamodio.gitlens
code --install-extension usernamehw.errorlens
code --install-extension bradlc.vscode-tailwindcss
code --install-extension unifiedjs.vscode-mdx
code --install-extension mikestead.dotenv

{
  "[javascript][typescript][typescriptreact][javascriptreact]": {
    "editor.defaultFormatter": "biomejs.biome",
    "editor.formatOnSave": true
  }
}

Step 4: Add a useful alias

Add a shortcut to open the current folder in VS Code:

cat >> ~/.zshrc << 'EOF'
alias c='code .'
EOF
source ~/.zshrc

Now c opens the current folder in VS Code.

Your editor workflow

Here's what using VS Code feels like day-to-day:

1. Open Ghostty
2. Navigate to your project: ghdev && cd my-project
3. Open VS Code: c (or code .)
4. Make changes in VS Code
5. Run commands (git, bun) in the Ghostty terminal alongside VS Code

In the next lesson we'll install Claude Code — the AI that lives in your terminal.