What Year Was Visual Studio Code Initially Released?

This article provides a direct answer to when Microsoft first released Visual Studio Code (VS Code), along with key milestones in its early development. Readers will learn the exact year of its debut, its transition from a preview version to general availability, and the foundation that led to its widespread adoption.

Microsoft initially released Visual Studio Code in 2015.

The lightweight, cross-platform source-code editor was first announced on April 29, 2015, during the Microsoft Build conference. Immediately following the announcement, Microsoft released a public preview version of the software for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Following its successful preview phase, Visual Studio Code reached its official 1.0 milestone (general availability) on April 14, 2016.

Built on the Electron framework, VS Code combined the simplicity of a code editor with powerful developer tooling, such as debugging and embedded Git control. By making the editor core open-source under the MIT License and actively supporting community-driven extensions, Microsoft enabled VS Code to quickly become one of the most popular development environments in the software engineering industry.