Where Are VS Code Extensions Stored?

Finding where Visual Studio Code (VS Code) stores its extensions on your local machine is useful for troubleshooting, backing up your development environment, or manually deleting corrupt plugins. This guide provides the exact file paths for Windows, macOS, and Linux, allowing you to quickly locate and manage your installed extensions.

Windows

On Windows, VS Code extensions are stored in the user profile directory. You can find them by navigating to the following path:

C:\Users\<Your-Username>\.vscode\extensions

Quick Access Method: 1. Press Windows Key + R to open the Run dialog box. 2. Type %USERPROFILE%\.vscode\extensions and press Enter.

macOS

On macOS, extensions are kept in a hidden directory within your user folder. The location is:

/Users/<Your-Username>/.vscode/extensions

Quick Access Method: 1. Open Finder. 2. Press Command + Shift + G to open the “Go to Folder” window. 3. Paste ~/.vscode/extensions and press Enter.

Linux

For standard Linux installations, the extensions are located in your home directory:

~/.vscode/extensions

Specifically, the absolute path is: /home/<Your-Username>/.vscode/extensions

Quick Access Method: Open your terminal and run the following command to navigate directly to the folder:

cd ~/.vscode/extensions

VS Code Portable Mode

If you are running VS Code in Portable Mode, the extensions are not stored in the global user directory. Instead, they are kept directly within the VS Code application folder:

[Path-to-VS-Code-Extractor-Folder]/data/extensions