How to Completely Reset a VS Code Extension (Clear Data & Cache)

You uninstalled a buggy extension, reinstalled it, and realized absolutely nothing changed. The old settings are still there, the error persists, and you are frustrated. This happens because Visual Studio Code is designed to preserve your data to ensure a smooth transition between updates. However, when you are troubleshooting a corrupted extension, this helpful feature becomes your biggest obstacle.

Simply clicking uninstall does not remove the local storage, cache, or the personalized configuration files hidden deep in your system directories. To fix persistent issues, you need to perform a hard reset. In this guide, we will walk you through how to manually clear every trace of an extension and get a fresh start.

Why Uninstalling Is Not Enough?

When you remove an extension from the VS Code interface, you are only deleting the source code stored in the extensions folder. However, extensions often create and modify files in two other critical locations that remain untouched during a standard uninstall:

• Global Storage: This folder holds application-wide data, such as authentication tokens, user preferences, and cached states.
• Workspace Storage: If you customized the extension for a specific project, those settings are saved in a separate workspace database.

If you do not clear these locations, reinstalling the extension will simply hook back into the old, potentially corrupted data.

Pre-Requisite: Disable Settings Sync Temporarily

Before you touch any files, there is one critical step most developers overlook. VS Code likely syncs your extensions and settings to the cloud. If you delete local files but leave Settings Sync on, VS Code will immediately download the old, buggy settings the moment you restart the editor.

To prevent this loop:

1. Open VS Code.
2. Press F1 or Ctrl+Shift+P to open the Command Palette.
3. Type Settings Sync: Off and select it.

You can turn this back on after you have successfully reset and reconfigured the extension.

Method 1: The Soft Reset (Editing settings.json)

Sometimes, the issue is not corrupted data but a misconfiguration in your user settings. Before deleting folders, it is smarter to check if you can fix the problem by cleaning up your settings.json file. This is less destructive and often solves logic errors.

1. Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P).
2. Type Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON) and press Enter.
3. Look for lines that start with the name of your problematic extension. For example, if you are fixing Prettier, look for keys like prettier.enable or prettier.configPath.
4. Delete these lines entirely and save the file.

If the extension still behaves strangely after this cleanup, it is time for the deep cleaning method.

Method 2: The Hard Reset (Clearing Storage & Cache)

This method involves deleting files directly from your system. Make sure to close VS Code completely before proceeding to ensure no files are locked.

Step 1: Identify the Extension ID

You need the unique identifier (Publisher ID) of the extension, not just its display name.

1. Open the Extensions view in VS Code.
2. Click on the extension you want to reset.
3. Scroll down to the More Info section on the right side.
4. Copy the Identifier (e.g., esbenp.prettier-vscode).

Step 2: Clear the Global Storage

The global storage is where most persistent data lives. You need to navigate to the specific directory for your operating system.

For Windows Users: Open File Explorer and paste this path into the address bar: %APPDATA%\Code\User\globalStorage

For macOS Users: Open Finder, press Cmd+Shift+G, and enter: ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/globalStorage

For Linux Users: You can find the directory at: ~/.config/Code/User/globalStorage

Inside this folder, look for a directory that matches the Extension ID you noted earlier. Delete that entire folder. This action removes the cached state and global database for that specific extension.

Step 3: Clear Workspace Storage (Optional)

If your issue only happens in one specific project, the problem might be in the workspaceStorage folder. However, folder names here are hashed (random strings like Target-Map-782...), making them hard to identify manually.

The easiest way to clear this is solely from within VS Code:

1. Open the Command Palette.
2. Type Workspaces: Open Workspace Configuration File.
3. Check if there are specific settings overriding your global config and remove them.

Step 4: Remove the Extension Source Files

Finally, we will remove the actual extension files to force a clean download.

Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.vscode\extensions macOS / Linux: ~/.vscode/extensions

Locate the folder named after your extension (e.g., esbenp.prettier-vscode-9.10.0) and delete it. If you are comfortable with the command line, you can quickly remove the directory using the rm -rf command for a faster process.

How to Verify the Reset?

Now that you have scrubbed the data, it is time to test.

1. Launch VS Code.
2. Go to the Extensions marketplace and install the extension again.
3. Notice that it should act as if it was installed for the first time (welcome messages might appear, default settings will be active).

If everything works correctly, remember to turn Settings Sync back on. When prompted, choose to Replace Local (upload your fresh, working config) rather than Merge to avoid bringing back the old bugs. Since you are dealing with system paths and configurations, knowing how to use environment variables can speed up your navigation in the future.

By following these steps, you have not just uninstalled an extension; you have completely purged its history from your machine, giving you a truly clean slate to work with.