VS Code Tip of the week: Live Share

2 minute read

I hinted at this week's tip a few weeks ago.

This week's VS Code tip is the Live Share extension pack!

Live Share commands displayed in VS Code's command palette

This is an excellent collaborative tool if you want to pair with others. If you've never used it, think Google Docs collaborative mode meets your editor.

Notification in VS Code stating a Live Share session is beginning

Some notable features:

  • All participants being able to modify code
  • The person that initiated the Live Share session can also share their local web server. For example, suppose I start an app on http://localhost:3000 while Live Share is running. Participants can navigate to http://localhost:3000 on their machine and see the app we're building out in real-time.
  • You can follow where another participant is navigating code
  • You can share a terminal session. This is, by default, disabled, so only allow participants access to your terminal session if you trust them.

And vscode.dev, which I mentioned at the beginning, can be used with Live Share, so someone anywhere on the planet with a browser can collaborate with you.

If you have access to GitHub Codespaces, it'll work there too. I'm not positive, but if you use Gitpod but run it in a container locally in VS Code, you can also use Live Share.

Now go collaborate!