VSCodium provides community-driven, freely licensed binary releases of Microsoft's Visual Studio Code repository. It functions as a fully open-source code editor, delivering a clean development environment with telemetry and proprietary tracking completely disabled under the MIT license.
Technical Overview of VSCodium
VSCodium automates build scripts that clone Microsoft's vscode repository, strip out proprietary endpoint configurations, and compile the source directly under the MIT license. It deploys across Windows via traditional installers and package managers such as WinGet, Chocolatey, or Scoop without telemetry overhead. The resulting binaries run without Microsoft-specific tracking while routing extension discovery through the independent open-vsx.org marketplace.
Core Features of VSCodium
- Telemetry-free builds strip out tracking endpoints and proprietary Microsoft background telemetry directly from source.
- Open-source extension registry integrates default support for Open VSX (
open-vsx.org) instead of the proprietary Visual Studio Marketplace. - Package manager support allows native, streamlined installation using WinGet, Chocolatey, Scoop, Homebrew, and Linux package repos.
- Permissive MIT licensing ensures complete freedom from Microsoft's restrictive, non-FLOSS binary licensing terms.
System Compatibility
Available for Windows 10 and Windows Server 2012 R2 or newer (x64 and arm64), macOS 12 or newer (x64 and arm64), and GNU/Linux (x64, arm64, riscv64, loong64, and ppc64le).