Developer cuts VS Code startup from 4.2s to 1.1s by auditing and trimming extensions

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A developer reduced their VS Code startup time from 4.2 seconds to 1.1 seconds by auditing 34 installed extensions and cutting the list down to 18. Using the built-in 'Show Running Extensions' command, they identified several extensions adding over 200ms each to startup, including Bracket Pair Colorizer, which now conflicts with a native VS Code feature. Redundant or rarely used extensions were removed, while tools like GitHub Copilot, GitLens, Error Lens, and Pretty TypeScript Errors were retained for their daily utility. Alongside the extension changes, settings adjustments — such as excluding heavy folders from file watching and search — helped cut idle memory usage from 890MB to 560MB. The author also highlighted native VS Code features like Sticky Scroll and bracket pair colorization as underused alternatives to third-party extensions.

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