Switch To VSCodium From VSCode

vscode

vscodium

IDE

privacy

Published

December 1, 2025

Modified

June 14, 2026

Today I Learned added on 2026-06-14, learned sometime around 2025-12-01.

In reviewing which tools are comparatively better with respect to privacy on https://github.com/pluja/awesome-privacy, I noticed that VSCodium (https://vscodium.com/) was listed.

Curious, I went to their website and saw the following:

Microsoft’s vscode source code is open source (MIT-licensed), but the product available for download (Visual Studio Code) is licensed under this not-FLOSS license and contains telemetry/tracking. According to this comment from a Visual Studio Code maintainer:

When we [Microsoft] build Visual Studio Code, we do exactly this. We clone the vscode repository, we lay down a customized product.json that has Microsoft specific functionality (telemetry, gallery, logo, etc.), and then produce a build that we release under our license.

When you clone and build from the vscode repo, none of these endpoints are configured in the default product.json. Therefore, you generate a “clean” build, without the Microsoft customizations, which is by default licensed under the MIT license

The VSCodium project exists so that you don’t have to download+build from source. This project includes special build scripts that clone Microsoft’s vscode repo, run the build commands, and upload the resulting binaries for you to GitHub releases. These binaries are licensed under the MIT license. Telemetry is disabled

Sold, I switched that day to VSCodium and I have not regretted my choice!

As for the name “Codium” and the logo (which looks like some sort of sea coral), I found Codium (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codium) on Wikipedia:

Codium is a genus of edible green macroalgae (or seaweed) under the order Bryopsidales. The genus name is derived from a Greek word that pertains to the soft texture of its thallus. One of the foremost experts on Codium taxonomy was Paul Claude Silva at the University of California, Berkeley. 1 2 Silva was able to describe 36 species for the genus, and in honor of his work on Codium, 1 the species C. silvae was named after him. 3

--- title: Switch To VSCodium From VSCode categories: ["vscode", "vscodium", "IDE", "privacy"] date: "2025-12-01" date-modified: "2026-06-14" --- _Today I Learned added on 2026-06-14, learned sometime around 2025-12-01._ In reviewing which tools are comparatively better with respect to privacy on <https://github.com/pluja/awesome-privacy>, I noticed that VSCodium (<https://vscodium.com/>) was listed. Curious, I went to their website and saw the following: > Microsoft's `vscode` source code is open source (MIT-licensed), but the product available for download (Visual Studio Code) is licensed under [this not-FLOSS license](https://code.visualstudio.com/license) and contains telemetry/tracking. According to [this comment](https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/issues/60#issuecomment-161792005) from a Visual Studio Code maintainer: > > > When we [Microsoft] build Visual Studio Code, we do exactly this. We clone the vscode repository, we lay down a customized product.json that has Microsoft specific functionality (telemetry, gallery, logo, etc.), and then produce a build that we release under our license. > > > > When you clone and build from the vscode repo, none of these endpoints are configured in the default product.json. Therefore, you generate a "clean" build, without the Microsoft customizations, which is by default licensed under the MIT license > > The VSCodium project exists so that you don't have to download+build from source. This project includes special build scripts that clone Microsoft's vscode repo, run the build commands, and upload the resulting binaries for you to [GitHub releases](https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium/releases). **These binaries are licensed under the MIT license. Telemetry is disabled** Sold, I switched that day to VSCodium and I have not regretted my choice! As for the name "Codium" and the logo (which looks like some sort of sea coral), I found Codium (<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codium>) on Wikipedia: > ***Codium*** is a [genus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genus "Genus") of [edible](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edible_seaweed "Edible seaweed") [green macroalgae](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_algae "Green algae") (or [seaweed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seaweed "Seaweed")) under the order [Bryopsidales](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryopsidales "Bryopsidales"). The genus name is derived from a Greek word that pertains to the soft texture of its [thallus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thallus "Thallus"). One of the foremost experts on *Codium* taxonomy was [Paul Claude Silva](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Silva "Paul Silva") at the [University of California, Berkeley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_California,_Berkeley "University of California, Berkeley"). [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codium#cite_note-:0-1) [2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codium#cite_note-Hoek,_Mann_and_Jahns_95-2) Silva was able to describe 36 species for the genus, and in honor of his work on *Codium*, [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codium#cite_note-:0-1) the species *C. silvae* was named after him. [3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codium#cite_note-:1-3)

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