Vscode plugin installation issues

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1

Hi guys!

I’ve read the wiki page about VSCode - Visual Studio Code - Official NixOS Wiki and unfortunately, not vscode-fhs nor vscode packages allow me to use extensions. (I’ve enabled nixpkgs.config.allowUnfree = true; and programs.nix-ld.enable = true;)

First one, as described, should be the easiest one - just add it to the environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [ and use it as on any other distro. But unfortunately, no, when I try to install any extension from the Marketplace (like Dev Containers), Installing progressbar just scrolls infinitely, but does nothing.

Well, I thought, okay, let’s take the longer but the proper way:

{ config, pkgs, lib, ... }:
{
  environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
    vscode
    (vscode-with-extensions.override {
      vscodeExtensions = with vscode-extensions; [
        # bbenoist.nix
        ms-python.python
        ms-azuretools.vscode-docker
        ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh
        vscode-extensions.ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers
      ];
    })
  ];
}

build, switch, open vscode - and nothing, extensions’ list is empty. After some googling, I’ve found out about ~/.vscode/extensions/extensions.json file, and mine had only [] inside. So I’ve closed VSCode, removed ~/.vscode directory, rebuilt the system, but nothing was created in ~/.vscode. After I started the app once again, the extensions.json was just [] as earlier.

I’ve searched /nix/store for this file and found two, non-empty ones:

venya ~/.config/nixos [main]$ l /nix/store/5i78zdd9i7njb5b312jpbpw8hh4043d6-vscode-extensions-json/share/vscode/extensions/extensions.json
-r--r--r-- 1 root 2,8K янв  1  1970 /nix/store/5i78zdd9i7njb5b312jpbpw8hh4043d6-vscode-extensions-json/share/vscode/extensions/extensions.json

venya ~/.config/nixos [main]$ head /nix/store/5i78zdd9i7njb5b312jpbpw8hh4043d6-vscode-extensions-json/share/vscode/extensions/extensions.json
[{"identifier":{"id":"ms-python.python","uuid":""},"location":{"$mid":1,"fsPath":"/nix/store/9l3mxbcvkpb5y4w4lgc5lyhd0lnyfvlw-vscode-extension-ms-python-python-2025.16.0/share/vscode/extensions/ms-python.python","path":"/nix/store/9l3mxbcvkpb5y4w4lgc5lyhd0lnyfvlw-vscode-extension-ms-python-python-2025.16.0/share/vscode/extensions/ms-python.python","scheme":"file"},"metadata":{"id":"","installedTimestamp":0,"isApplicationScoped":false,"isPreReleaseVersion":false,"preRelease":false,"publisherDisplayName":"ms-python","publisherId":"","targetPlatform":"undefined","updated":false},"relativeLocation":"ms-python.python","version":"2025.16.0"},{"identifier":{"id":"ms-azuretools.vscode-docker","uuid":""},"location":{"$mid":1,"fsPath":"/nix/store/f2mnfky7zmlizz21qf87kvmhz66qh1r9-vscode-extension-ms-azuretools-vscode-docker-2.0.0/share/vscode/extensions/ms-azuretools.vscode-docker","path":"/nix/store/f2mnfky7zmlizz21qf87kvmhz66qh1r9-vscode-extension-ms-azuretools-vscode-docker-2.0.0/share/vscode/extensions/ms-azuretools.vscode-docker","scheme":"file"},"metadata":{"id":"","installedTimestamp":0,"isApplicationScoped":false,"isPreReleaseVersion":false,"preRelease":false,"publisherDisplayName":"ms-azuretools","publisherId":"","targetPlatform":"undefined","updated":false},"relativeLocation":"ms-azuretools.vscode-docker","version":"2.0.0"},{"identifier":{"id":"ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh","uuid":""},"location":{"$mid":1,"fsPath":"/nix/store/4mp2mpcxp74mz8k3pyc69w14lvlxa3hk-vscode-extension-ms-vscode-remote-remote-ssh-0.120.0/share/vscode/extensions/ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh","path":"/nix/store/4mp2mpcxp74mz8k3pyc69w14lvlxa3hk-vscode-extension-ms-vscode-remote-remote-ssh-0.120.0/share/vscode/extensions/ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh","scheme":"file"},"metadata":{"id":"","installedTimestamp":0,"isApplicationScoped":false,"isPreReleaseVersion":false,"preRelease":false,"publisherDisplayName":"ms-vscode-remote","publisherId":"","targetPlatform":"undefined","updated":false},"relativeLocation":"ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh","version":"0.120.0"},{"identifier":{"id":"ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers","uuid":""},"location":{"$mid":1,"fsPath":"/nix/store/5rvf3hdcsyfwxspax17g0ln7jmcgk7mw-vscode-extension-ms-vscode-remote-remote-containers-0.431.1/share/vscode/extensions/ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers","path":"/nix/store/5rvf3hdcsyfwxspax17g0ln7jmcgk7mw-vscode-extension-ms-vscode-remote-remote-containers-0.431.1/share/vscode/extensions/ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers","scheme":"file"},"metadata":{"id":"","installedTimestamp":0,"isApplicationScoped":false,"isPreReleaseVersion":false,"preRelease":false,"publisherDisplayName":"ms-vscode-remote","publisherId":"","targetPlatform":"undefined","updated":false},"relativeLocation":"ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers","version":"0.431.1"}]

venya ~/.config/nixos [main]$ l /nix/store/r820djzrkin2dgw0i7iw9i1ccwc9fy38-vscode-extensions-json/share/vscode/extensions/extensions.json
-r--r--r-- 1 root 3,5K янв  1  1970 /nix/store/r820djzrkin2dgw0i7iw9i1ccwc9fy38-vscode-extensions-json/share/vscode/extensions/extensions.json

What does it all mean and how do you guys make VSCode work? Also, there were very few other complaints on the internet, looks like it should just work, but not for me for some reason:)

(I’m on 25.11 if it’s relevant)

2

There are multiple wiki versions… Check this one out. It looks more promising:

https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Visual_Studio_Code

TLDR:

programs.vscode = {
  enable = true;
  extensions = with pkgs.vscode-extensions; [
    dracula-theme.theme-dracula
    vscodevim.vim
    yzhang.markdown-all-in-one
  ];
};
3

It says, this method is for home manager, but I do not use one:(

4

Ah sorry, I skimmed through it and this is what I had in the past so it looked promissing…

I have one idea though:

Delete vscode from your pkgs list.
To my understanding this is either this or that. Not both.
Could be that vscode is being picked up rather than your version with extensions:

{ config, pkgs, lib, ... }:
{
  environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
    (vscode-with-extensions.override {
      vscodeExtensions = with vscode-extensions; [
        # bbenoist.nix
        ms-python.python
        ms-azuretools.vscode-docker
        ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh
        vscode-extensions.ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers
      ];
    })
  ];
}
5

wow, looks like, this was the answer! Thanks a lot!

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