i run a VS Code setup that is customized to feel cleaner and closer to zed.
this post is the exact setup, with links to the real config.
setup at a glance
- editor: VS Code
- coding agent: Codex
- primary font: JetBrainsMono Nerd Font
- themes: Cursor Light and Cursor Dark
- icon theme: Quill Icons
- UI Tweaks: Custom UI Style + custom stylesheet
why this setup
i like zed's UI, but i still want VS Code's ecosystem and remote workflow.
so instead of switching editors, i customized VS Code.
the biggest difference is the custom UI layer, not the extension count.
how the custom ui started
while scrolling twitter, i found stumbled upon a github discussion with a lot of VS Code custom styles.
- discussion link: apc extension thread
the original extension in that thread was deprecated, but i kept the ideas i liked and recreated the look using Custom UI Style.
config
{
// Behaviour
"diffEditor.ignoreTrimWhitespace": false,
"editor.formatOnPaste": false,
"editor.formatOnSave": true,
"security.workspace.trust.untrustedFiles": "open",
"security.promptForRemoteFileProtocolHandling": false,
"workbench.activityBar.location": "bottom",
"workbench.editor.highlightModifiedTabs": true,
"workbench.startupEditor": "readme",
"workbench.editor.showIcons": false,
"outline.collapseItems": "alwaysCollapse",
"outline.showVariables": false,
"outline.showProperties": false,
"window.titleBarStyle": "native",
"window.commandCenter": false,
"typescript.updateImportsOnFileMove.enabled": "never",
"javascript.updateImportsOnFileMove.enabled": "never",
"files.autoSave": "afterDelay",
"files.autoSaveDelay": 100,
"explorer.confirmDelete": false,
"explorer.confirmDragAndDrop": false,
"editor.inlineSuggest.enabled": true,
"git.autofetch": true,
"github.copilot.enable": {
"*": true,
"plaintext": true,
"markdown": false,
"scminput": false
},
"github.copilot.nextEditSuggestions.enabled": true,
// Terminal
"terminal.integrated.allowChords": false,
"terminal.integrated.macOptionIsMeta": true,
"terminal.integrated.enableMultiLinePasteWarning": "never",
"terminal.integrated.cursorBlinking": true,
"terminal.integrated.cursorStyle": "line",
"terminal.integrated.fontFamily": "JetBrainsMono Nerd Font, JetBrainsMono Nerd Font Mono, JetBrains Mono, monospace",
"terminal.integrated.fontSize": 13,
"terminal.integrated.lineHeight": 1.2,
"terminal.integrated.sendKeybindingsToShell": true,
"terminal.integrated.suggest.enabled": false,
"terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.linux": "zsh",
"terminal.integrated.profiles.linux": {
"zsh": {
"path": "zsh"
}
},
// Editor
"editor.fontLigatures": true,
"editor.fontSize": 14,
"chat.editor.fontSize": 14,
"editor.lineHeight": 1.6,
"editor.fontFamily": "JetBrainsMono Nerd Font, JetBrainsMono Nerd Font Mono, JetBrains Mono, monospace",
"editor.minimap.enabled": false,
"editor.wordWrap": "on",
"editor.cursorStyle": "line",
"editor.cursorBlinking": "smooth",
"editor.cursorSmoothCaretAnimation": "on",
// Scrollbars
"editor.scrollbar.vertical": "visible",
"editor.scrollbar.verticalScrollbarSize": 9,
"editor.scrollbar.horizontalScrollbarSize": 9,
// Theme
"window.autoDetectColorScheme": true,
"workbench.iconTheme": "quill-icons",
"workbench.preferredDarkColorTheme": "Cursor Dark",
"workbench.preferredLightColorTheme": "Cursor Light",
// UI Styles
"custom-ui-style.reloadWithoutPrompting": true,
"custom-ui-style.font.monospace": "JetBrainsMono Nerd Font, JetBrainsMono Nerd Font Mono, JetBrains Mono, monospace",
"custom-ui-style.font.sansSerif": "JetBrains Mono, -apple-system",
"custom-ui-style.electron": {
"titleBarStyle": "hiddenInset",
"trafficLightPosition": { "x": 12, "y": 12 }
},
"custom-ui-style.stylesheet": {
".monaco-workbench": {
"--activitybar-width": "84px",
"--titlebar-height": "38px"
},
".editor .decorationsOverviewRuler": {
"display": "none !important"
},
// Scrollbar
"div.visible.scrollbar.vertical .slider, div.invisible.scrollbar.vertical .slider": {
"border-radius": "10px !important",
"left": "-4px !important"
},
"div.visible.scrollbar.horizontal .slider, div.invisible.scrollbar.horizontal .slider": {
"border-radius": "10px !important",
"top": "-4px !important"
},
// Breadcrumbs
".monaco-breadcrumbs": {
"font-size": "10px"
},
// Hide editor title text
".monaco-workbench .part > .title > .title-label h2": {
"display": "none"
},
// Wide Action Bar
".part.sidebar.left .composite-bar": {
"min-width": "100% !important",
".monaco-action-bar .actions-container": {
"justify-content": "space-between !important"
}
},
// Titlebar
".part.sidebar.left .composite.title": {
"-webkit-app-region": "drag",
"&, .title-actions, .global-actions, .monaco-toolbar": {
"height": "var(--titlebar-height)"
},
".title-label": {
"line-height": "var(--titlebar-height)"
},
"border-bottom": "1px solid var(--vscode-sideBar-border)"
},
".title.tabs": {
"--editor-group-tab-height": "var(--titlebar-height) !important"
},
// Make line numbers a bit smaller.
".editor .margin-view-overlays .line-numbers": {
"font-size": "85%"
},
// Search inputs / Results in monospaced font.
".search-widget textarea, .find-widget textarea, .search-view .results .match": {
"font-family": "var(--cus-monospace-font) !important"
},
".monaco-workbench.nosidebar .part.editor > .content .editor-group-container > .title .tabs-container": {
"padding-left": "var(--activitybar-width) !important"
},
".monaco-workbench .part.editor > .content .editor-group-container > .title .tabs-container, .monaco-workbench .part.statusbar": {
"-webkit-app-region": "drag",
// Allow interaction on tabs and action items
".tab, .monaco-action-bar, .statusbar-item, .title-actions .action-label": {
"-webkit-app-region": "no-drag"
}
},
".monaco-workbench .part.sidebar > .title": {
"-webkit-app-region": "drag",
// Allow interaction on tabs and action items
".statusbar-item, .title-actions .action-label": {
"-webkit-app-region": "no-drag"
}
}
},
"window.customTitleBarVisibility": "never",
"claudeCode.preferredLocation": "sidebar",
"claudeCode.allowDangerouslySkipPermissions": true,
"claudeCode.initialPermissionMode": "bypassPermissions",
"[jsonc]": {
"editor.defaultFormatter": "esbenp.prettier-vscode"
}
}
screenshot


extensions
this list is intentionally simple:
- Auto Rename Tag
- Better Comments
- Coder
- Codex
- Cursor Midnight Theme
- Custom UI Style
- ES7+ React/Redux/React-Native Snippets
- GitHub Pull Requests
- GitLens
- Live Share
- OpenCode
- Pretty TypeScript Errors
- Remote - SSH
- Tailwind CSS IntelliSense
thanks again for reading!
Written by
Anirudh
Created At
Wed Feb 25 2026
Updated At
Wed May 13 2026
