Here’s a collection of essential VS Code extensions for a lead front-end developer working with React and TypeScript:
Core TypeScript & React Extensions
- ESLint – For code quality and style enforcement
- Prettier – For consistent code formatting
- TypeScript – Official extension with IntelliSense
- ES7+ React/Redux/React-Native snippets – Provides shortcuts for common React patterns
Developer Experience
- IntelliCode – AI-assisted development with context-aware completions
- GitLens – Supercharged Git capabilities within editor
- Import Cost – Shows the size of imported packages
- Error Lens – Improves error visibility in the editor
- Auto Rename Tag – Automatically renames paired HTML/JSX tags
Debugging & Testing
- Jest – For running and debugging tests
- Debugger for Chrome/Edge – Debugging React apps in browser
- Redux DevTools – If using Redux for state management
Performance & Code Quality
- Lighthouse – For performance auditing
- SonarLint – Detect and fix quality issues
- Better Comments – Improve comments with alerts, TODOs, etc.
Component Development
- vscode-styled-components – Syntax highlighting for styled-components
- Tailwind CSS IntelliSense – If using Tailwind
- Material Icon Theme – Better file/folder icons
Architecture & Documentation
- Draw.io Integration – For creating architecture diagrams
- Todo Tree – Track TODO comments in your codebase
- Path Intellisense – Autocompletes filenames in imports
Team Collaboration
- Live Share – Real-time collaborative editing
- CodeStream – Code discussions and reviews inside VS Code
These extensions cover the technical aspects of React and TypeScript development while also addressing the leadership aspects of documentation, collaboration, and maintainability that are important for a lead developer role.