Visual Studio Code 1.99 Brings Some Cool Enhancements (+ Installation Instructions)

As you may know, Visual Studio Code is a popular free and cross platform text editor and IDE developed by Microsoft, being available for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux,

Among others, it has built-in debugging support, embedded Git control, syntax highlighting, code completion, integrated terminal, code refactoring and snippets, being very popular among developers and programmers.

The latest version

Visual Studio Code 1.99 introduces a set of usability improvements, editor refinements, and enhanced customization options designed to streamline your development workflow. Here are the key highlights:

• Refined Sticky Scroll Behavior
  Sticky Scroll now supports smooth scrolling and better alignment, making it easier to stay oriented in large files when navigating through nested code blocks.
• Improved File Explorer Search
  The File Explorer search has been enhanced to allow wildcard matching (*) in the filter field, helping you locate files more flexibly within complex projects.
• Terminal Improvements
  • Quick access to recent commands: A new “Show Run Recent Command” action lets you easily rerun previous terminal commands.
  • Support for cursor styles in terminal profiles.
  • Better handling of ANSI escape sequences for smoother terminal output rendering.
• New Icon Themes for Light Mode
  The updated Codicon icon set now includes light theme variants for improved visibility and consistency across UI themes.
• Source Control View Updates
  Source Control’s commit button now supports multiline commit messages with an easier editing flow, enhancing version control usability.
• Remote Development Enhancements
  Improved support for Remote – SSH and Remote – Containers extensions, ensuring a smoother experience when working with remote environments.
• Extension Authoring Improvements
  VS Code 1.99 offers better API support for extension developers, including new capabilities for working with custom editors, views, and diffing.

This release focuses on polishing existing features and enhancing both performance and productivity across the editor, terminal, and source control workflows. Whether you’re writing code, debugging, or managing repositories — Visual Studio Code 1.99 makes the experience more intuitive and efficient.

How to install Visual Studio Code 1.99 on Ubuntu 24.10, Ubuntu 24.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Linux Mint, Debian and other Linux systems, via Snap:

What is Snap?

Snap is a package management system developed by Canonical, the creators of Ubuntu. It allows applications to be packaged with all their dependencies, making installations easier and reducing compatibility issues across different Linux distributions.

One of the key advantages of Snap packages is that they run in a sandboxed environment, which enhances security and stability. Additionally, Snap packages are updated automatically in the background, ensuring that users always have the latest version of an application without manual intervention.

However, some users may find that Snap applications take up more disk space due to bundling dependencies, and they may have slightly slower startup times compared to traditional DEB packages.

Prepare Snap, If Needed

On Ubuntu, Snap is pre-installed, but if you are using a Linux distribution where Snap is not integrated by default, you can install it using the following command:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install snapd

After installing Snap, you may need to enable and start the Snap service:

sudo systemctl enable --now snapd

Install Visual Studio Code via Snap

Since Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is officially available as a Snap package, installing it on Ubuntu and other Snap-supported Linux distributions is straightforward. Open a terminal and run the following command:

sudo snap install --classic code

The --classic flag is required because VS Code needs access to system-wide development tools and libraries, which are restricted in a standard Snap sandbox.

(Optional) Uninstall Visual Studio Code Using Snap

If you ever need to remove VS Code, you can do so with the following command:

sudo snap remove code

This will remove the application but leave your configuration and extensions intact. If you want to completely remove all settings, manually delete the configuration directory:

rm -rf ~/.config/Code