[ICYMI] VS Code updates January 2026

Welcome to the monthly recap of updates and releases to VS Code and InterSystems-related extensions relevant to IRIS developers. We'll break down the updates that are relevant to InterSystems developers with tips on how they can be applied to your day-to-day projects. 

Don’t forget, if you’re migrating from InterSystems Studio to VS Code, or want to deepen your knowledge, check out the VS Code training courses from George James Software: georgejames.com/vscode-training.


VS Code version 1.109

• Editor stability and navigation improvements - folding, syntax highlighting and navigation are now more consistent, making it easier to work with large ObjectScript classes and routines.
• Debugging improvements – breakpoints and stepping are more dependable, making ObjectScript and Python debugging smoother.
• Terminal & productivity enhancements – minor terminal and UI improvements make multi-file, multi-namespace projects easier to manage.

These updates improve the efficiency of day-to-day development work and navigation in VS Code, especially when working with complex IRIS projects.

The release also includes contributions from our very own @John Murray through pull requests that address open issues.  

View the full release notes: https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_109


InterSystems official extensions

InterSystems Language Server - version 2.8.2 updates:

• Linux support restored – Extension now works reliably across more distributions.
• SQL & syntax fixes – Parses SQL constructs and extrinsic functions correctly, reducing false errors.
• Editor stability & navigation – Crash fixes and improved “go-to-definition” for generated methods.
• Python method folding (Windows) – Folding now works correctly for Python methods.
• Diagnostic improvements – Invalid DEFAULTGLOBAL values now trigger warnings to prevent runtime issues.

Use this extension as part of the InterSystems ObjectScript Extension Pack to spot errors earlier and navigate large projects faster, with intelligent code navigation, syntax checking, folding, and diagnostics.

George James Software extensions

There have been no releases or updates this month, so here’s our Marketplace pick:

Jupyter Server Proxy for InterSystems IRIS

Operate your IRIS environment, whether local on your workstation or remote in your organization/cloud, as Jupyter Servers for ObjectScript, SQL, as well as Embedded Python.

Let us know in the comments if you try any of these features or VS Code extensions, and what you think.

Happy coding!