How to open VS Code from the command line

A simple guide to installing the VS Code command line tools

I am writing this blog post because I am setting up a new Mac and I run into the little things that I take for granted but they are not available by default when you first install VS Code (my favorite editor!).

I am so used to typing code foldername in the terminal to open a folder in VS Code. Or code filename to open a file.

Today I did this, automatically, but the command was not found!

I had to go into VS Code, press cmd-option-P (or from the menu, View -> Command Palette and I searched “command” and there it was:

Shell Command: Install 'code' command in PATH

I pressed enter, and the command was now available in the terminal.

Happy coding!