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Development Environment Setup

About 5 minutes

Shiori
Target audience: Those setting up their development environment for the first time, those who want to get started with VS Code
Prerequisites: Basic terminal commands from Terminal Basics

A development environment is the set of tools you need to write and run code. After learning the basics of the terminal, the next step is to build your development environment.

With the right setup, you can develop with code completion, auto-formatting, and error detection support.

What You Will Learn

Choosing a Shell

Compare the types and characteristics of shells that receive commands in the terminal. Learn the strengths and trade-offs of Fish, Zsh, and Bash, and how to choose based on your needs.

VS Code Setup

Learn the initial setup for VS Code, the most widely used code editor in 2026, along with the extensions you need for AI-assisted development. The guide covers GitHub Copilot and Settings Sync.

VS Code Insiders - Try the Latest Features Early

Learn how VS Code Insiders differs from the stable release. This guide covers how to get early access to the latest GitHub Copilot features such as Agent Mode, how to install Insiders, and how to use the stable version and Insiders side by side.

VS Code Insiders - Fixing Shell Recognition Issues

Learn how to fix the code-insiders command when VS Code Insiders cannot register it correctly in the shell. The guide covers permission errors and PATH-related workarounds.

I recommend following this order:

OrderTopicEstimated Time
1Check and configure your shell15 minutes
2Install and configure VS Code30 minutes
3Check VS Code Insiders (optional)15 minutes
4Fix VS Code Insiders shell command issues (optional)15 minutes
This table scrolls horizontally. Keyboard users can focus the table and use the left and right arrow keys.

After finishing this section, your editor environment will be ready. Next, install programming languages in Node.js & Python.

Prerequisites

Before starting this section, make sure that:

  • You know the basics of terminal commands. See Terminal Basics.
  • You are using macOS or Windows with WSL2.

See the references for the external specifications and background sources used on this page.[1][2]

References

  1. Microsoft, Visual Studio Code documentation
  2. GNU, Bash Reference Manual