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On this page there are 6 sections

Working with JavaScript

This topic describes some of the advanced JavaScript features supported by Visual Studio Code. Using the TypeScript language service, VS Code can provide smart completions (IntelliSense) as well as type checking for JavaScript.

IntelliSense

Visual Studio Code's JavaScript IntelliSense provides intelligent code completion, parameter info, references search, and many other advanced language features. Our JavaScript IntelliSense is powered by the JavaScript language service developed by the TypeScript team. While IntelliSense should just work for most JavaScript projects without any configuration, you can make IntelliSense even more useful with JSDoc or by configuring a jsconfig.json project.

For the details of how JavaScript IntelliSense works, including being based on type inference, JSDoc annotations, TypeScript declarations, and mixing JavaScript and TypeScript projects, see the JavaScript language service documentation.

When type inference does not provide the desired information, type information may be provided explicitly with JSDoc annotations. This document describes the JSDoc annotations currently supported.

In addition to objects, methods, and properties, the JavaScript IntelliSense window also provides basic word completion for the symbols in your file.

Typings and Automatic Type Acquisition

IntelliSense for JavaScript libraries and frameworks is powered by TypeScript type declaration (typings) files. Type declaration files are written in TypeScript so they can express the data types of parameters and functions, allowing VS Code to provide a rich IntelliSense experience in a performant manner.

Many popular libraries ship with typings files so you get IntelliSense for them automatically. For libraries that do not include typings, VS Code's Automatic Type Acquisition will automatically install community maintained typings file for you.

Automatic type acquisition requires npmjs, the Node.js package manager, which is included with the Node.js runtime. In this image you can see IntelliSense, including the method signature, parameter info, and the method's documentation for the popular lodash library.

Type declaration files are automatically downloaded and managed by Visual Studio Code for packages listed in your project's package.json or that you import into a JavaScript file.

{ "typeAcquisition": { "include": ["jquery"] } }

Most common JavaScript libraries ship with declaration files or have type declaration files available.

Fixing npm not installed warning for Automatic Type Acquisition

Automatic Type Acquisition uses npm, the Node.js package manager, to install and manage Type Declaration (typings) files. To ensure that Automatic Type Acquisition works properly, first ensure that you have npm installed on your machine.

Run npm --version from a terminal or command prompt to quickly check that npm is installed and available.

npm is installed with the Node.js runtime, which is available for download from Nodejs.org. Install the current LTS (Long Term Support) version and the npm executable will be added by default to your system path.

If you have npm installed but still see a warning message, you can explicitly tell VS Code where npm is installed with the js/ts.tsserver.npm.path setting. This should be set to the full path of the npm executable on your machine, and this does not have to match the version of npm you are using to manage packages in your workspace. js/ts.tsserver.npm.path requires TypeScript 2.3.4+.

For example, on Windows, you would add a path like this to your settings.json file:

{ "compilerOptions": { "module": "CommonJS", "target": "ES6" }, "exclude": ["node_modules", "**/node_modules/*"] }

The exclude attribute tells the language service which files are not part of your source code. If IntelliSense is slow, add folders to your exclude list (VS Code will prompt you to do this if it detects slow completions). You will want to exclude files generated by a build process (such as a dist directory). These files will cause suggestions to show up twice and will slow down IntelliSense.

You can explicitly set the files in your project using the include attribute. If no include attribute is present, then this defaults to including all files in the containing directory and subdirectories. When a include attribute is specified, only those files are included.

Here is an example with an explicit include attribute:

// @ts-check let itsAsEasyAs = 'abc'; itsAsEasyAs = 123; // Error: Type '123' is not assignable to type 'string'

Using // @ts-check is a good approach if you just want to try type checking in a few files but not yet enable it for an entire codebase.

Using a setting

To enable type checking for all JavaScript files without changing any code, just add "js/ts.implicitProjectConfig.checkJs": true to your workspace or user settings. This enables type checking for any JavaScript file that is not part of a jsconfig.json or tsconfig.json project.

You can opt individual files out of type checking with a // @ts-nocheck comment at the top of the file:

let easy = 'abc'; // @ts-ignore easy = 123; // no error

Using jsconfig or tsconfig

To enable type checking for JavaScript files that are part of a jsconfig.json or tsconfig.json, add "checkJs": true to the project's compiler options:

jsconfig.json:

{ "compilerOptions": { "allowJs": true, "checkJs": true }, "exclude": ["node_modules", "**/node_modules/*"] }

This enables type checking for all JavaScript files in the project. You can use // @ts-nocheck to disable type checking per file.

JavaScript type checking requires TypeScript 2.3. If you are unsure what version of TypeScript is currently active in your workspace, run the TypeScript: Select TypeScript Version command to check. You must have a .js/.ts file open in the editor to run this command. If you open a TypeScript file, the version appears in the lower right corner.

Global variables and type checking

Let's say that you are working in legacy JavaScript code that uses global variables or non-standard DOM APIs:

{ "compilerOptions": {}, "exclude": ["node_modules", "**/node_modules/*"] }

Then reload VS Code to make sure the change is applied. The presence of a jsconfig.json lets TypeScript know that your Javascript files are part of a larger project.

Now create a globals.d.ts file somewhere your workspace:

{ "version": "2.0.0", "tasks": [ { "label": "watch", "command": "${workspaceFolder}/node_modules/.bin/babel", "args": ["src", "--out-dir", "lib", "-w", "--source-maps"], "type": "shell", "group": { "kind": "build", "isDefault": true }, "isBackground": true } ] }

Once you have added this, you can start Babel with the ⇧⌘B (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+B) (Run Build Task) command and it will compile all files from the src directory into the lib directory.

Tip: For help with Babel CLI, see the instructions in Using Babel. The example above uses the CLI option.

Disable JavaScript support

If you prefer to use JavaScript language features supported by other JavaScript language tools such as Flow, you can disable VS Code's built-in JavaScript support. You do this by disabling the built-in TypeScript language extension TypeScript and JavaScript Language Features (vscode.typescript-language-features) which also provides the JavaScript language support.

To disable JavaScript/TypeScript support, go to the Extensions view (⇧⌘X (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+X)) and filter on built-in extensions (Show Built-in Extensions in the ... More Actions dropdown), then type 'typescript'. Select the TypeScript and JavaScript Language Features extension and press the Disable button. VS Code built-in extensions cannot be uninstalled, only disabled, and can be re-enabled at any time.

Partial IntelliSense mode

VS Code tries to provide project-wide IntelliSense for JavaScript and TypeScript, which is what makes features such as auto-imports and Go to Definition possible. However, there are some cases where VS Code is limited to working only with your currently opened files and is unable to load the other files that make up your JavaScript or TypeScript project.

This can happen in a few instances:

You are working with JavaScript or TypeScript code on vscode.dev or github.dev and VS Code is running in the browser.
You open a file from a virtual file system (such as when using the GitHub Repositories extension).
The project is currently loading. Once loading completes, you will start getting project-wide IntelliSense for it.

In these cases, VS Code's IntelliSense will operate in partial mode. Partial mode tries its best to provide IntelliSense for any JavaScript or TypeScript files you have open, but is limited and is not able to offer any cross-file IntelliSense features.

Which features are impacted?

Here's an incomplete list of features that are either disabled or have more limited functionality in partial mode:

All opened files are treated as part of a single project.
Configuration options from your jsconfig or tsconfig (such as target) are not respected.
Only syntax errors are reported. Semantic errors — such as accessing an unknown property or passing the wrong type to a function — are not reported.
Quick Fixes for semantic errors are disabled.
Symbols can only be resolved within the current file. Any symbols imported from other files will be treated as being of the any type.
Commands such as Go to Definition and Find All References will only work for opened files instead of across the entire project. This also means that symbol from any packages you install under node_module will not be resolved.
Workspace symbol search will only include symbols from currently opened files.
Auto imports are disabled.
Renaming is disabled.
Many refactorings are disabled.

Some additional features are disabled on vscode.dev and github.dev:

Automatic type acquisition is currently not supported.

Checking if you are in partial mode

To check if the current file is using partial mode IntelliSense instead of project-wide IntelliSense, hover over the JavaScript or TypeScript language status item in the status bar:

The status item will show Partial mode if the current file is in partial mode.

5/13/2026