We all know that Chromebooks are lightweight, browser-focused laptops designed primarily for everyday tasks. However, they’ve come a long way over the years. Today, you can install full-fledged Linux desktop applications, as well as Android apps and games, making Chromebooks far more versatile than they used to be.
Now, if you’re wondering whether you can run development tools like Visual Studio Code on a Chromebook, the answer is yes; you absolutely can. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of installing and setting up Visual Studio Code on your Chromebook step by step.
Install Visual Studio Code on a Chromebook
Before you begin installing VS Code, make sure your Chromebook supports Linux and that the Linux development environment is properly set up. You should also ensure that at least 1 GB of RAM is allocated to the Linux container (4 GB is recommended for smoother performance), along with 10–15 GB of storage space for the Linux environment.
To install VS Code, we first need to enable the Linux development environment on ChromeOS. We already have a detailed guide on this, so you can follow the linked guide to set it up.
Once that’s done, you can proceed with the steps below to install it on your Chromebook.
Here’s a cleaner and more polished version of your steps:
1. Click on the App Launcher and open the Terminal.
2. In the Terminal, select the Penguin option to access the Linux command line.
3. Now, run the following command to update the Linux packages:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade -y
4. After that, install the required dependency for VS Code by running the command below:
sudo apt-get install -y gnome-keyring
5. Now we’re ready to install Visual Studio Code. To get started, visit the official VS Code download page and download the .deb package. Make sure to choose the correct version based on your Chromebook’s processor; select the 64-bit (.deb) option if your device uses an Intel or AMD processor, or choose the ARM64 (.deb) version if your Chromebook runs on an ARM processor.
6. After downloading, open the Files app, go to the Downloads folder, and move the .deb file to the Linux files folder.
7. Then, double-click the .deb file to open the Linux app installation window.
8. Click Install and wait for the process to complete.
9. Once installed, you’ll find Visual Studio Code in the Linux apps folder within your launcher. Open it, and just like that, your Chromebook is ready to handle your coding tasks.
Setting Up Visual Studio Code on Chromebook
That’s it! This is how you can download and install Visual Studio Code on your Chromebook. Once installed, you can start working on your coding projects right away.
Visual Studio Code supports JavaScript out of the box. However, if you want to run backend applications using Node.js or set up Python for development, you can easily configure that as well. Additionally, VS Code offers a wide range of extensions, allowing you to expand its functionality and customize it to suit your workflow.
