Choose your preferred installation method — all fully supported on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and later.
Best integration with Ubuntu — updates via apt upgrade.
# 1. Update & install prerequisites
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y wget gpg apt-transport-https ca-certificates software-properties-common
# 2. Add Microsoft GPG key (modern signed-by method)
wget -qO- https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/packages.microsoft.gpg > /dev/null
# 3. Add VS Code repository
echo "deb [arch=amd64,arm64,armhf signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/packages.microsoft.gpg] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code stable main" | \
sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscode.list
# 4. Install
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y codeLaunch: code or via menu. Auto-updates with system packages.
sudo snap install --classic codeBeginner-friendly • Sandboxed (classic confinement) • Fastest to get new features • Launch: code
First enable Flatpak support if not already set up:
sudo apt install flatpak
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepoThen install VS Code:
flatpak install flathub com.visualstudio.codeLaunch from menu or flatpak run com.visualstudio.code. Updates via flatpak update.
| Method | Update Speed | Sandbox Level | Startup Time | Integration | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft APT | Good | None | Fastest | Excellent (system pkg mgr) | Most developers / power users |
| Snap classic | Fastest | Medium (classic) | Slightly slower | Good | Beginners / want latest features quickly |
| Flatpak | Good | High | Slightly slower | Fair | Sandbox priority / cross-distro consistency |
Manual .deb download is also possible from code.visualstudio.com, but the methods above provide automatic updates.