Setting Up VS Code for Dart

Install VS Code

Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is the recommended editor for Dart development. Download it from code.visualstudio.com and install it for your operating system.

Install Dart Extension

After opening VS Code:

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+X (or Cmd+Shift+X on Mac) to open Extensions.
2. Search for Dart.
3. Install the Dart extension by Dart Code.
4. Optionally install the Flutter extension if you plan to use Flutter.

The Dart extension provides:

• Syntax highlighting
• Code completion (IntelliSense)
• Debugging support
• Code formatting
• Quick fixes and refactoring

Create a Dart Project

Open VS Code terminal (Ctrl+`) and run:

dart create my_first_app
cd my_first_app

This creates a Dart project with the following structure:

my_first_app/
├── bin/
│   └── my_first_app.dart   ← entry point
├── lib/
│   └── my_first_app.dart   ← library code
├── test/
│   └── my_first_app_test.dart
└── pubspec.yaml            ← project config

Run Your First Program

Open bin/my_first_app.dart and you'll see:

void main() {
  print('Hello, World!');
}

Run it from the terminal:

dart run

Hello, World!

You can also press F5 in VS Code to launch the debugger.

Useful Extensions

🧠 Quiz

Summary

Set up Dart development in VS Code by installing the Dart extension, creating a project with dart create, and running it with dart run or F5. Enable format-on-save for clean code automatically.