What it does
vscode-icons is an editor icon theme with file associations, folder artwork, custom mappings and project detection. Its code and image assets have different licenses.
Install vscode-icons from VS Code’s command palette, then activate it when prompted or choose VSCode Icons in the File Icon Theme menu. The theme changes the editor’s file tree. Its documented minimum editor version is 1.104.3.
Custom associations let a particular extension use the symbol you prefer. The extension also supports your own artwork and can detect recognized project types, such as Angular, to select suitable icons. These are useful options for a mixed-language repository or a project with custom file conventions.
The extension is free and the documented editor installation has no separate vscode-icons account step. Source code uses MIT, while icon images use CC BY-SA 4.0 and branded marks retain their own copyright terms. Extracting the images for another product therefore needs the artwork’s terms, rather than only the code licence.
Strengths
- Custom file and folder associations adapt the theme to a project.
- Project detection can select relevant icon variants.
Watch out for
- Icon-image reuse follows different terms from the MIT-licensed code.
Best for
- VS Code users navigating mixed-language repositories
- Teams with custom file extensions
Sources
- vscode-icons README (Oct 27, 2026)
- vscode-icons source code MIT License (Oct 27, 2026)