VS Code .gitignore Template Explained

VisualStudioCode.gitignore is a textbook example of negation patterns. It excludes all the contents of the .vscode/ folder, then re-includes with ! only the settings files worth sharing with the team.

The key point is that it is written as .vscode/*, not .vscode/. If the directory itself is excluded, git does not look inside it, so the ! rules that follow have no effect.

Rules explained

Pattern	What it ignores and why
.vscode/*	Exclude folder contentsFirst excludes every file inside .vscode, including caches and personal settings created by extensions. The folder itself is not excluded, so files inside it can be restored.
!.vscode/settings.json!.vscode/tasks.json!.vscode/launch.json	Shared workspace settingsFormatter and linter settings, build tasks and debug configurations help the team develop the same way.
!.vscode/extensions.json!.vscode/*.code-snippets	Recommended extensions and snippetsextensions.json is the list of extensions suggested for installation when the project is opened, and .code-snippets files are project-specific code snippets.
!*.code-workspace	Multi-root workspacesRe-includes workspace files that group several folders, even if some template ignores them.
*.vsix	Built extension packagesInstall packages created with vsce package when developing VS Code extensions.

Practical notes

• Do not put personal preferences (font size, theme) in settings.json; keep them in your user settings. Settings in the repository apply to the whole team.
• If you put personal paths or tokens in launch.json, replace them with variables such as ${workspaceFolder} before committing.
• If you want to hide .vscode/ entirely, put the single line .vscode/ in your global gitignore instead of using this template. You give up sharing team settings, though.

Original template

# Visual Studio Code.vscode/*!.vscode/settings.json!.vscode/tasks.json!.vscode/launch.json!.vscode/extensions.json!.vscode/*.code-snippets!*.code-workspace# Built Visual Studio Code Extensions*.vsix

Often used together

More template explanations