VSCode Extensions for Backend Engineering & Systems Programming
Here’s my current list of Visual Studio Code extensions, with a usage scale from 1 to 5, indicating how often I use each one. This list is tailored for backend engineering with Azure, Rust, C++, Python, Scala, and system-level or cloud-native workflows.
🛠️ General Editor & Workflow Enhancers
| Extension | Usage | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Better Comments (opens in a new tab) | 4 | Color-coded comment tags like // TODO, // NOTE, etc. Very handy across all languages. |
| Advanced New File (opens in a new tab) | 5 | Easily create files with path hints, e.g., src/utils/log.rs. |
| Bracket Pair Colorizer 2 (opens in a new tab) | 4 | Helps visually match nested brackets—super helpful in Rust or deeply nested code. |
| Dracula Theme (opens in a new tab) | — | Clean, dark, eye-comfortable theme for long coding hours. |
| File Utils (opens in a new tab) | 5 | Quickly rename, duplicate, or move files with shortcuts. |
| GitLens (opens in a new tab) | 3 | Git annotations inline and in file history. Helpful for tracking backend service changes. |
| Prettier (opens in a new tab) | 4 | I use it mainly for JSON, Markdown, and frontend config files. |
| Indent Rainbow (opens in a new tab) | 3 | Great for Python or YAML indentation levels. |
| Code Spell Checker (opens in a new tab) | 2 | Useful for catching typos in docs or code comments. |
🐍 Python & Data Engineering
| Extension | Usage | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Python (opens in a new tab) | 5 | Official Python support with IntelliSense, Jupyter, debug configs, etc. |
| Pylance (opens in a new tab) | 5 | Fast type-checking and enhanced IntelliSense for large data pipelines. |
| Jupyter (opens in a new tab) | 3 | I use this occasionally to prototype ETL logic or transformation flows. |
| Docker (opens in a new tab) | 4 | Essential for containerized data engineering and ML workflows. |
| Azure Tools (opens in a new tab) | 4 | Includes Azure CLI, blob storage explorer, and pipeline helpers. |
🦀 Rust
| Extension | Usage | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| rust-analyzer (opens in a new tab) | 5 | Lightning-fast Rust tooling: IntelliSense, inline docs, and type hints. |
| crates (opens in a new tab) | 4 | Manages dependencies in Cargo.toml, shows versions and docs inline. |
| CodeLLDB (opens in a new tab) | 4 | Debug Rust binaries (especially for performance profiling or backend service debugging). |
⚙️ C++ & Systems Engineering
| Extension | Usage | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| C/C++ (opens in a new tab) | 5 | Microsoft’s official C++ extension for IntelliSense, debug, and build config. |
| CMake Tools (opens in a new tab) | 4 | If you're doing C++ builds with CMake, this one is essential. |
| Include Autocomplete (opens in a new tab) | 3 | Auto-completes #include directives and helps with large codebases. |
☁️ Azure Cloud & DevOps
| Extension | Usage | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Azure CLI Tools (opens in a new tab) | 4 | Syntax highlighting and IntelliSense for Azure CLI commands. |
| Azure Resource Manager (ARM) Tools (opens in a new tab) | 3 | Useful if you're defining infra via ARM templates or bicep. |
| Terraform (opens in a new tab) | 4 | Infrastructure-as-Code using Terraform (useful for Azure VMs, storage, etc.). |
🧪 Scala & JVM Ecosystem
| Extension | Usage | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Metals (opens in a new tab) | 4 | Language server for Scala. Works well with SBT and Scala 3. |
| Scala Syntax (official) (opens in a new tab) | 3 | Lightweight syntax highlighting if you’re not using Metals. |
| Gradle for Java (opens in a new tab) | 3 | For Scala projects that use Gradle over SBT. |
🧠 AI, Productivity & Utilities
| Extension | Usage | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Github Copilot (opens in a new tab) | 4 | Speeds up repetitive boilerplate coding across all languages. |
| TabOut (opens in a new tab) | 3 | Quickly escape brackets/quotes with the Tab key—surprisingly useful in C++ and Rust. |
| Markdown All in One (opens in a new tab) | 3 | Makes README and .mdx writing a breeze with live preview and TOC generation. |
Last updated on April 20, 2025