Products · Product
VS Code
Raised as a usability problem by 855 people on Hacker News over 13 years (2014–2026), in 617 threads.
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Every issue, all time, most people first
Typing feels delayed, as if the app lags behind keystrokesUnreviewed
20142026- Keystrokes appear on screen with noticeable lag, so users type ahead of what they see2026-03-11
- Keyboard latency is poor and reconnects are slow after looking away2026-01-22
- Text input lags noticeably, so the user avoids using it2025-11-14
Autocomplete popups appear constantly and settings cannot fully stop themUnreviewed
20142026- Autocomplete feels shaky and buggy across languages, with issues left unresolved2025-12-25
- Popups get clicked by accident, and AI autocomplete inserts large unintended code from wrong key presses2025-08-22
- Basic autocomplete in VSCode doesn't help and gets in the way2024-12-24
Settings require manual JSON editing instead of a settings UIUnreviewed
20142026- Changing settings through its JSON-based approach is a truly awful experience2026-04-29
- Settings scattered in different places, rendered as JSON or web pages, confusing to find2026-01-05
- No config dialogs; users must edit raw config files or use awkward workarounds2025-11-26
Extensions are hard to discover and installUnreviewed
20142026- Setting up the extension's configuration is badly designed and frustrating2026-01-22
- Novices must find and install random extensions, and the store is confusing and risky2025-08-27
- Hard to tell which extensions to install; extension preferences UI is clunky and awkward2025-01-29
Could not configure something and gave up after wasting timeUnreviewed
20142026- Suddenly adds unwanted features enabled by default, making tasks harder2026-05-18
- AI features are forced on users and must be manually turned off2025-10-02
- Gave up configuring it reasonably after five minutes, repeatedly2024-04-06
Undo sometimes reverts more than intended, merging several commandsUnreviewed
20142026- Undo history not shared with VSCode and gets out of sync2025-12-30
- Undo replays every keystroke individually, so undo is excruciatingly slow2025-03-27
- Undo behaves inconsistently, making the editor frequently a miserable experience2024-12-15
Customizing requires many hoops, harder than in EmacsUnreviewed
20142026- Can't make VSCode look or feel comfortable even after configuring it2025-12-23
- Customizing VSCode requires jumping through hoops, far harder than Emacs2025-05-30
- VS Code editor groups are a pain to close2025-01-25
Vim keybindings feel awkward when using other VS Code featuresUnreviewed
20142026- Vim emulation fails in ways that cause file loss after commands2026-01-19
- Search shortcut and VS Code features feel incomplete, forcing mouse use within Neovim setup2024-12-15
- Vim bindings in VSCode come with compromises, forcing a choice between editor features and vim keys2023-03-03
Dozens of open tabs become chaotic and hard to trackUnreviewed
20142026- Colleagues struggle to find open files among many tabs and navigate the sidebar tree2024-11-14
- Too many open files make tabs unusable, forcing reliance on memory of file names2024-07-26
- Opening dozens of tabs becomes chaotic and hard to keep track of2024-05-07
Git actions are combined with nonstandard terms, hindering diagnosisUnreviewed
20142026- Current and incoming labels are ambiguous and mean different things than in Git2026-01-13
- Git code review in Visual Studio felt worse than the TFS review experience2024-04-06
- Combines multiple Git actions and uses nonstandard terminology, making problems hard to diagnose2023-09-16
Keyboard-only use needs heavy customization, mouse needed for many thingsUnreviewed
20142026- Editor constantly shows popups and inline text beside the cursor, distracting from work2026-01-06
- Mouse or touchpad selection and scrolling is unbelievably slow for developers2024-06-30
- Forces mouse clicking; keyboard-only use is cumbersome2023-07-19
Ctrl+P file search takes very long on large codebasesUnreviewed
20142026- Searching file contents, other projects and previously open files works poorly2022-10-28
- Code search is so slow that the user falls back to CLI tools2022-03-27
- Search was very slow during the beta stage2020-11-24
Default keybindings differ across platforms and are hard to unifyUnreviewed
20142026- Fixed keybindings can't be fully customized and search forgets last position2024-12-29
- Can't configure keybindings and look-and-feel to match the editor they prefer2022-12-16
- Key bindings clash with browser shortcuts, so many important bindings get eaten2022-11-13
Hangs freeze the editor in some projects, forcing restartsUnreviewed
20142026- Editor intermittently freezes the whole desktop on Arch Linux2025-09-03
- Editor freezes and becomes unresponsive, or intellisense stops working when using C++2022-08-14
- Editor freezes at times because extensions block its progress2022-07-16
Editor panes are cluttered with no quick way to hide UIUnreviewed
20142026- UI feels cluttered and scattered, hard to navigate coming from IntelliJ2026-05-21
- Editor's UI is convoluted and cluttered, trying to fit everything into it2024-02-19
- Cannot hide various UI elements, making the screen cluttered on a laptop2021-12-02
Closing a tab jumps the file explorer to another tab's fileUnreviewed
20142026- Tab sometimes moves focus instead of inserting a tab, only fixed by restarting2026-05-06
- Dragging a tab out drops the file on the Desktop instead of making a window2022-12-16
- Navigating reuses the same tab, so files vanish unless you remember to double-click it2022-08-23
Some extensions must be manually disabled when not in useUnreviewed
20142026- Some extensions are so slow they must be manually disabled when not in use2024-02-22
- Constantly nagged with extension update badges and feels slow2023-08-24
- Basic actions like renaming or opening files are slow after an update2022-07-09
Two suggestion boxes pop up at once, breaking focus while typingUnreviewed
20142026- Constant hints and popups pull the user out of focus while coding2025-02-17
- Screen cluttered with constant suggestions that distract and sometimes accidentally insert unwanted code2024-12-24
- Must press ctrl+. twice to get suggestions to show properly2024-07-06
Syntax highlighting lags behind on large filesUnreviewed
20142026- Takes seconds to respond to keystrokes and minutes to update syntax highlighting2024-02-25
- Syntax highlighting stops working on larger files, so the user switches editors2024-01-12
- Syntax highlighting visibly lags on large files and input lags behind2023-09-14
Opening a new window takes about three seconds to appearUnreviewed
20142026- Takes 5-6 seconds to launch and 2-3 seconds to open a new window2022-11-21
- Opening a new window takes about three seconds before it appears2020-04-22
- Opening a new window is so slow the user avoids it2019-02-13
Multiple cursors cause mistakes that must be undoneUnreviewed
20142026- Cursor suddenly jumps to end of file, forcing user to navigate back2024-10-10
- Holding alt to move a line sometimes accidentally moves the cursor too2023-11-05
- Multiple cursors slow the user down and cause mistakes that must be undone2022-01-07
Diffs open in narrow splits, and layouts cannot be quickly switchedUnreviewed
20142026- Splitting the screen reopens the same file in each column, cluttering the file switcher with duplicates2023-08-23
- Diffs open in narrow splits, and layouts cannot be quickly switched or isolated like Vim tabs2023-08-09
- Can't create separate tab layouts, so opened files and diffs squeeze into existing splits2023-08-07
Large icons take up space and distract from the codeUnreviewed
20142026- Screenshot layout wastes space with fat icons and illegible text2023-09-15
- Large icons take up space and distract from the code2020-02-24
- Activity bar of icons takes too much screen space on small laptop screens2016-12-14
Holding arrow keys to scroll shows visible lagUnreviewed
20142026- Visible lag when scrolling by holding the arrow keys2025-05-20
- Keyboard commands get dropped and scrolling lags behind key repeat2024-02-18
- Editor repaints slowly and lags when scrolling line-by-line or page-by-page with arrow keys2022-03-08
Feels like a code editor rather than an IDE, with clunky integrationUnreviewed
20142026- Feels too much like a simple editor yet not enough like an IDE, always slightly off2025-09-03
- Editor tooling for Elixir is awful, a major pain point for developers2024-06-28
- Feels more like a code editor than an IDE, with clunky integration2023-10-19
Editor windows and files cannot be freely arrangedUnreviewed
20142026- Editor windows and open files can't be freely arranged, so layouts feel clunky and fixed2025-08-21
- Moving around the editor and opening files feels clunky and cumbersome2024-02-18
- Open editors list is too small and cannot be resized2023-11-19
Go language server often fails to autocomplete or jump to definitionUnreviewed
20142026- Go-to-definition stopped working offline, forcing manual navigation of the codebase2025-01-29
- Go support in VS Code never works; user gets no code insight or debugging2021-06-08
- IntelliSense is unreliable for Go, so user avoids using autocomplete to look up functions2020-09-23
Days of troubleshooting needed to get the debugger workingUnreviewed
20142026- Took days of troubleshooting to get the debugger working2025-01-10
- Debugging is buggy and the .NET setup easily gets confused or broken2021-11-29
- Debugger config is fragile and remote debugging setup is painful2021-04-25
Completion and formatting randomly stop working, requiring restartsUnreviewed
20142026- Auto-completion works inconsistently, often needing a save or restart to function2024-03-21
- Completion sometimes stops working for hard-to-tell reasons across machines2023-11-07
- Completion, formatting and intellisense randomly stop working, forcing frequent manual restarts2021-03-06
Copilot is pushed on users with no option to turn it offUnreviewed
20142026- Copilot is forced into VS Code and is almost impossible to remove2026-05-03
- Copilot Chat has become completely unusable, getting worse with each release2026-02-02
- Keeps pushing Copilot even though the user does not want it2026-01-05
Asked to restart almost weekly for updates, disrupting workUnreviewed
20142026- Asked to restart almost every week for updates, which is disruptive2022-08-29
- Frequent restart prompts for updates and a modal asking to trust each folder interrupt work2021-11-17
- Monthly updates interrupt work, costing fifteen or twenty minutes and breaking flow state2017-03-01
Hover and IntelliSense popups cover code needed while typingUnreviewed
20142026- Intellisense info hidden behind mouse hover is inaccessible without a mouse2023-09-06
- Hover and IntelliSense popups cover the code the user needs to reference while typing2022-05-12
- Tooltips block the cursor, forcing several clicks to reach the code2021-02-05
Window must fully reload after the computer sleepsUnreviewed
20142026- Re-opens all windows on start and is slow; must quit and relaunch several times daily2024-07-11
- Things break or stop working, forcing the user to reload the window2023-05-15
- Has to reload the entire window after computer sleeps2021-03-19
Text looks broken on macOS and scrolling lags for monthsUnreviewed
20142026- Text looks broken on macOS and scrolling is laggy, lasting months until a fix ships2019-04-25
- Text randomly flips between blurry and crisp while scrolling on 4K displays2017-05-03
- Lines jump around when scrolling because smooth scrolling is off and can't be enabled2016-10-11
Linting and code completion are unbearably slow to respondUnreviewed
20142026- Linting and code completion are unbearably slow to respond2021-06-05
- Type-checking, linting and hinting are sometimes shockingly slow to respond2020-11-24
- Code completion takes 15-20 seconds to appear and becomes unusable in big Unity projects2016-07-19
C++ debugging setup is undocumented and hard to figure outUnreviewed
20142026- Debugging C++ takes many clicks, can't see file and debug views together2023-11-04
- Getting C++ debugging working needs hand-edited JSON config files, which are hard to get right and not portable2018-12-06
- Can't figure out how to set up C++ debugging; config options undocumented2016-09-09
Opening a small markdown file pegs CPU and typing lagsUnreviewed
20142026- Freezes when opening a 900 KB text file2026-04-29
- Becomes very slow when opening huge Markdown documents2024-02-17
- Opening a small markdown file pegs CPU and uses lots of memory; typing lags2019-03-19
Configuration changes and poorly documented plugins obscure how things interactUnreviewed
20142026- Constant configuration changes and poorly documented plugins make it hard to understand how things work together2021-09-03
- Constantly needs plugins and settings changes to work the way wanted2020-09-17
- Plugin configuration is hard to figure out without copying web instructions2018-08-28
Large repositories and large files take long to loadUnreviewed
20142026- Slow because it rescans the whole project and JDK on every file opened2023-06-22
- Slow to load large repositories and large files2020-09-22
- Go to file is too slow in large projects with tens of thousands of files2016-04-15
Existing CMake/Ninja project fails to build in VS CodeUnreviewed
20142026- Couldn't get VS Code to build an existing CMake/Ninja project; its integrations failed2021-11-17
- Extending VS Code requires installing Node.js and npm packages before a simple feature2021-08-30
- Plugin was completely unusable to a new VS Code user during setup2017-03-24
Dragging a selected text range loses the selection instead of moving itUnreviewed
20142026- Cannot select text needing scrolling; window won't scroll and selection spills into other windows2017-03-24
- Accidental drag-and-drop triggers when selecting text, forcing extra steps to reselect2016-10-11
- Dragging a selected text range loses the selection instead of moving it2016-03-03
Commit message field is tiny and only validates after the factUnreviewed
20142026- The commit message edit box is tiny and not ideal for writing messages2024-02-02
- Shows too much contextual UI by default, cluttering the editor with commit info2021-10-25
- Commit message input is a tiny field with after-the-fact validation, not a full editor2021-01-17
Opening one file does not load other project files, leaving workspace incompleteUnreviewed
20142026- User can't tell which project or workspace they are in or which files belong to it2020-09-22
- Ctrl+P doesn't find project files until they've been manually opened2020-06-16
- Opening a single file doesn't load the other project files, so the workspace is incomplete2016-10-10
Telemetry opt-out settings changed across versions, sometimes removing opt-outUnreviewed
20142026- Telemetry and hint settings take ages to uncheck; checkboxes often don't respond or jump around2022-01-11
- Old telemetry opt-out does not carry over; new setting defaults to on2021-10-09
- Telemetry opt-out settings changed across versions, sometimes removing the ability to opt out2021-07-20
Tab key sometimes inserts literal tab textUnreviewed
20142026- Tab doesn't insert a tab and arrow keys need Shift for multiline editing2022-01-12
- Tab key sometimes inserts literal <tab> text; vim mode is slow and buggy2018-09-06
- Escape key needs pressing several times; Tab inserts literal tab text2018-03-26
Switching between projects is awkward since only a single workspace window is allowedUnreviewed
20142026- Switching between several projects is slow and awkward; VS Code forces a single workspace window2023-08-23
- Working across several repos forces opening a separate window for each project2023-03-15
- Wasted much time navigating across projects and windows2023-02-19
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Marketplace listings are cluttered with spam and fake lookalike extensions, hard to tell apart2026-10-31
- IntelliSense takes about 3 seconds to suggest anything useful2026-10-27
- Basic usability issue open since 2015 with thousands of upvotes, still unaddressed2026-10-16
- Title bar is cluttered with buttons and hard to find a grabbable spot2026-10-13
- Custom endpoint settings are silently ignored after an update, routing traffic to Microsoft models2026-10-09
- Final line feed shows as empty line and can be navigated to, confusing users2026-10-07
- Editor is so noisy that the user can't read or write code in it2026-09-25
- Certain sub-windows can only be placed in certain screen locations2026-09-24
- Remote editing unexpectedly installs an agent on the target machine2026-09-23
- Leaves dozens of stale sessions open, forcing admins to write scripts to boot users2026-09-23
- Some actions can only be done with the mouse, not the keyboard, and paths are too long2026-08-29
- Pairing session loses sync after a few minutes and becomes unusable2026-08-13
- Collaborative editing sessions are buggy and unusable2026-08-12
- Took much configuration to navigate file tree by keyboard, and still didn't work well2026-07-31
- Remote editing over SSH is highly unpalatable and the GUI feels frustrating2026-07-11
- Integrating external tooling is cumbersome for the user2026-06-18
- Git client is silly and missing many options and dialogs compared to IntelliJ2026-06-18
- Opening the editor is interrupted by many AI prompts pushing unwanted features2026-06-17
- Typing the next command before the previous one finishes mangles the input2026-06-10
- Forgets its window position, size and display on Wayland, needing a manual reset script2026-06-03
- UI feels cluttered and scattered, hard to navigate coming from IntelliJ2026-05-21
- Suddenly adds unwanted features enabled by default, making tasks harder2026-05-18
- Login gets stuck in a loop and Python virtual environment isn't recognized; UI feels slower2026-05-15
- Tab sometimes moves focus instead of inserting a tab, only fixed by restarting2026-05-06
- Copilot is forced into VS Code and is almost impossible to remove2026-05-03
- Copilot co-author line added to commits silently and hidden from the user so it can't be removed2026-05-03
- UI sometimes fails to render file text, appearing scrambled and unresponsive2026-05-02
- Git commits get an unwanted Copilot co-author line added by default2026-04-30
- Freezes when opening a 900 KB text file2026-04-29
- Changing settings through its JSON-based approach is a truly awful experience2026-04-29
- Becomes incredibly sluggish and nearly unusable on large projects on Linux2026-04-29
- Copilot couldn't work out how to build the project via dotnet CLI2026-04-09
- UI becomes unusable with large files due to memory pressure2026-04-07
- Current interface is getting unwieldy when running many projects2026-03-24
- Repeated prompts to subscribe to Microsoft AI tools clutter the editor and must be dismissed2026-03-19
- Keystrokes appear on screen with noticeable lag, so users type ahead of what they see2026-03-11
- Spurious edits reappear after reverting because VSCode resets files to its own version2026-03-07
- Electron app slow and displays nothing or artifacts on Nvidia Linux drivers2026-02-22
- Described as buggy and unusable in general, without specifics2026-02-21
- Opening a separate VSCode instance per directory feels slow2026-02-20
- Editor takes long to open and uses lots of memory and CPU2026-02-15
- Agent makes a mess of the project and its changes are hallucinated, so it wastes time2026-02-07
- Hard to use for someone whose Emacs setup is heavily customised2026-02-02
- Copilot Chat has become completely unusable, getting worse with each release2026-02-02
- Repeated warnings when editing local YAML files cause dismissal fatigue2026-01-23
- Setting up the extension's configuration is badly designed and frustrating2026-01-22
- Trust prompts are so intrusive and frequent that users disable the feature2026-01-22
- Trust warning is easy to ignore, disable, or click through by habit2026-01-22
- Keyboard latency is poor and reconnects are slow after looking away2026-01-22
- Vim emulation fails in ways that cause file loss after commands2026-01-19