Prior to official support for Apple Silicon, VS Code was still accessible through Rosetta 2, which is Apple’s proprietary translation software that instantly translates apps meant for x86 processors to be able to run on ARM processors the first time you access the app.

While testing the software as a part of its insider’s build, Microsoft offered two different installable versions, one for Macs with Intel chips and another for arm64 Macs. Microsoft says that VS Code is now available to install as a universal build, meaning users won’t need to separately install a build with arm64 support. Thanks to the community for self-hosting with the Insiders build and reporting issues early in the iteration.” Users on Macs with M1 chips can now use VS Code without emulation with Rosetta and will notice better performance and longer battery life when running VS Code. “We are happy to announce our first release of stable Apple Silicon builds this iteration. While the original version was numbered 1.54, Microsoft has since issued an update to fix an issue with an extension dependency which bumped the version number to 1.54.1. Previously, VS Code worked on M1 Macs using the Rosetta 2 translation layer. This means developers who rely on the code editing and management software from Microsoft will experience better compatibility and efficiency while using it. After beta-testing the software through its insider builds for over two months now, Microsoft has officially updated Visual Studio Code to natively support M1 Macs.

Visual studio code m1 macbook