[](https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium/actions/workflows/stable-linux.yml?query=branch%3Amaster)
[](https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium/actions/workflows/stable-macos.yml?query=branch%3Amaster)
[](https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium/actions/workflows/stable-windows.yml?query=branch%3Amaster)
**This is not a fork. This is a repository of scripts to automatically build Microsoft's `vscode` repository into freely-licensed binaries with a community-driven default configuration.**
*Note for macOS users: if you can't open the App, please read [the following troubleshooting](https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium/wiki/Troubleshooting#macos).*
This repository contains build files to generate free release binaries of Microsoft's VS Code. When we speak of "free software", we're talking about freedom, not price.
Microsoft's releases of Visual Studio Code are licensed under [this not-FLOSS license](https://code.visualstudio.com/license) and contain telemetry/tracking. According to [this comment](https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/issues/60#issuecomment-161792005) from a Visual Studio Code maintainer:
> When we [Microsoft] build Visual Studio Code, we do exactly this. We clone the vscode repository, we lay down a customized product.json that has Microsoft specific functionality (telemetry, gallery, logo, etc.), and then produce a build that we release under our license.
> When you clone and build from the vscode repo, none of these endpoints are configured in the default product.json. Therefore, you generate a "clean" build, without the Microsoft customizations, which is by default licensed under the MIT license
This repo exists so that you don't have to download+build from source. The build scripts in this repo clone Microsoft's vscode repo, run the build commands, and upload the resulting binaries to [GitHub releases](https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium/releases). __These binaries are licensed under the MIT license. Telemetry is disabled.__
If you want to build from source yourself, head over to [Microsoft's vscode repo](https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode) and follow their [instructions](https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/wiki/How-to-Contribute#build-and-run). This repo exists to make it easier to get the latest version of MIT-licensed VS Code.
For more information on getting all the telemetry disabled and tips for migrating from Visual Studio Code to VSCodium, have a look at this [Docs](https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium/blob/master/DOCS.md) page.
According to the VS Code Marketplace [Terms of Use](https://aka.ms/vsmarketplace-ToU), _you may only install and use Marketplace Offerings with Visual Studio Products and Services._ For this reason, VSCodium uses [open-vsx.org](https://open-vsx.org/), an open source registry for VS Code extensions. See the [Extensions + Marketplace](https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium/blob/master/DOCS.md#extensions-marketplace) section on the Docs page for more details.
Please note that some Visual Studio Code extensions have licenses that restrict their use to the official Visual Studio Code builds and therefore do not work with VSCodium. See [this note](https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium/blob/master/DOCS.md#proprietary-debugging-tools) on the Docs page for what's been found so far and possible workarounds.
If you would like to see the commands we run to build `vscode` into VSCodium binaries, have a look at the workflow files in `.github/workflows` for Windows, GNU/Linux and macOS. These build files call all the other scripts in the repo. If you find something that doesn't make sense, feel free to ask about it [on Gitter](https://gitter.im/VSCodium/Lobby).
The minimal version is limited by the core component Electron, you may want to check its [platform prerequisites](https://www.electronjs.org/docs/latest/development/build-instructions-gn#platform-prerequisites).
