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 Feb 25 2026
