README.md

June 9, 2026 · View on GitHub

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vscode-background

Bring background images to your Visual Studio Code

fullscreeneditorsidebarauxiliarybarpanelcarouselcustom images/styles...

GitHub | Visual Studio Marketplace

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Multiple sections, editorsidebarauxiliarybarpanel

fullscreen

Installation

There are 2 ways to install this extension:

  1. Install from Visual Studio Marketplace.
  2. Search shalldie.background from vscode.

Custom

User defined requirements can be met by changing the configuration(settings.json).

what's settings.json | where?

Config

Global Config

NameTypeDefaultDescription
background.enabledBooleantrueWhether to enable background extension.

Editor Section Config

Edit background.editor to config editor section.

NameTypeDefaultDescription
useFrontbooleantruePlace the image above or below the code.
styleobject{}Custom style for images. MDN Reference
stylesobject[][{},{},{}]Each style of editor section image.
imagesstring[][]Custom images, supports online and local images, as well as folders.
intervalnumber0Seconds of interval for carousel, default 0 to disabled.
randombooleanfalseWhether to randomly display images.

example:

{
  "background.editor": {
    "useFront": true,
    "style": {
      "background-position": "100% 100%",
      "background-size": "auto",
      "opacity": 0.6
    },
    "styles": [{}, {}, {}],
    // `images` supports online and local images, as well as folders.
    "images": [
      // online images, only `https` is allowed.
      "https://hostname/online.jpg",
      // local images
      "file:///local/path/img.jpeg",
      "/home/xie/downloads/img.gif",
      "C:/Users/xie/img.bmp",
      "D:\\downloads\\images\\img.webp",
      // local folders
      "/home/xie/images",
      // data URL
      "data:image/*;base64,<base64-data>"
    ],
    "interval": 0,
    "random": false
  }
}

Fullscreen、Sidebar、Auxiliarybar、Panel Section Config

Edit background.fullscreenbackground.sidebarbackground.auxiliarybarbackground.panel to config these sections.

NameTypeDefaultDescription
imagesstring[][]Custom images, supports online and local images, as well as folders.
opacitynumber0.1Opacity of the images, alias to opacity, 0.1 ~ 0.3 recommended.
sizestringcoverAlias to background-size, cover to self-adaption (recommended).
positionstringcenterAlias to background-position, default center.
intervalnumber0Seconds of interval for carousel, default 0 to disabled.
randombooleanfalseWhether to randomly display images.

example:

{
  "background.fullscreen": {
    // `images` supports online and local images, as well as folders.
    "images": [
      // online images, only `https` is allowed.
      "https://hostname/online.jpg",
      // local images
      "file:///local/path/img.jpeg",
      "/home/xie/downloads/img.gif",
      "C:/Users/xie/img.bmp",
      "D:\\downloads\\images\\img.webp",
      // local folders
      "/home/xie/images",
      // data URL
      "data:image/*;base64,<base64-data>"
    ],
    "opacity": 0.1,
    "size": "cover",
    "position": "center",
    "interval": 0,
    "random": false
  },
  // `sidebar` and `panel` have the same config as `fullscreen`
  "background.sidebar": {},
  "background.panel": {}
}

Quick Command

Click the 「Background」 button on the right-bottom of statusbar, all commands of background will appear:

Common Issues

This extension works by editting the vscode's html file.

Please refer to the Common Issues if you met some problems.

Uninstall

Please refer to Common Issues#how-to-uninstall.

Contributors 🙏

shalldie suiyun39 frg2089 AzureeDev tumit asurinsaka u3u kuresaru Unthrottled rogeraabbccdd rogeraabbccdd

Contributing Guide

Refer to Contributing Guide.

Change Log

You can checkout all our changes in our CHANGELOG.

Share Your Images

We share background images here.

Migration from v1

The configuration of v1 is outdated and currently maintains a certain level of compatibility. Please refer to migration-from-v1.md for migration.

LICENSE

MIT