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

Uninstalling a VS Code extension leaves globalStorage data behind. This guide shows how to clear cache, workspace data, and use the CLI for a complete reset.

Ekin Yalgın

January 4, 2025·4 min read

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

Clicking the uninstall button in VS Code leaves behind a hidden trail of cached states and broken authentication tokens inside your globalStorage directory. Purging these residual directories is the required method to factory reset a glitchy extension and prevent Settings Sync from reviving old bugs.

Windows Path: %APPDATA%\Code\User\globalStorage
macOS Path: ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/globalStorage
Linux Path: ~/.config/Code/User/globalStorage
VS Code Insiders: AppData\Local\Code - Insiders\User\globalStorage
CLI Command: code --uninstall-extension publisher.extension-name

Why Uninstalling a VS Code Extension Fails

VS Code separates the application logic from your personal configuration data. Pressing uninstall only removes the source code folder. Your custom rules, cached workspace states, and authentication tokens remain untouched in the globalStorage folder. Reinstalling the tool simply reconnects it to this corrupted data pool.

The extension host process caches these files aggressively. Running the Developer: Reload Window command provides a quick soft reset, but a persistent configuration error demands a complete hard wipe of the storage directories.

Step 1: Disable Settings Sync

Do not skip this step. VS Code uses Settings Sync to constantly back up your configurations to the cloud. Deleting your local cache while sync is active just triggers an immediate download of the exact same broken files.

Open your Command Palette and type Preferences: Settings Sync: Turn Off. Choose to keep your data locally for now. You need a completely isolated environment to perform a clean wipe. Once the reset is successful, re-enable sync and choose the Replace Local option to overwrite the cloud data with your fresh local state.

Step 2: Delete Extension Data from globalStorage

Every tool you install gets a dedicated folder inside globalStorage. Deleting this specific folder eradicates all saved preferences and cached states.

First, locate your target extension ID. Go to the Extensions panel, click on the tool you want to reset and look for the Identifier section in the details pane. It looks like publisher.extension-name.

Navigate to your operating system's specific path and delete the folder matching that identifier.

Windows: Press Win + R and paste:

%APPDATA%\Code\User\globalStorage

macOS: Open Finder, press Cmd + Shift + G and enter:

~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/globalStorage

Linux: Navigate to:

~/.config/Code/User/globalStorage

On Linux, you can find the exact directory path if you are not sure where your home directory resolves.

Step 3: Clear workspaceStorage for Project-Specific Issues

Sometimes an extension works perfectly in one project but crashes entirely in another. Project-specific errors live in the workspaceStorage folder located right next to your globalStorage directory.

VS Code names these folders using long random alphanumeric hashes. Each folder contains a workspace.json file that shows the exact project path it belongs to. Open these files to identify your broken project, then delete the entire hash folder once confirmed.

Step 4: Remove the Extension Source Files

The final cleanup step involves removing the downloaded source files. VS Code stores these separately from your user data.

Windows:

%USERPROFILE%\.vscode\extensions

macOS and Linux:

~/.vscode/extensions

Find the folder bearing the publisher identifier and delete it completely. Your system is now free of this extension.

Alternative: Using the Code CLI to Uninstall

Server environments and automated setups require a different approach. Use the Code CLI to strip out extensions without opening the visual interface.

code --uninstall-extension publisher.extension-name

This is useful when a broken extension prevents the visual editor from loading properly, or when managing VS Code on a remote machine without a GUI.

Resetting Extensions on Remote SSH Servers

Working on a remote server changes the storage architecture entirely. The extension data is stored on the remote machine, not locally.

Log into your remote server and navigate to:

~/.vscode-server/extensions

Delete the corrupted folders directly from the server. Restart your local VS Code instance to force a fresh connection. If you are setting up VS Code Remote for the first time, installing WSL2 on Windows follows a similar pattern for local Linux environments.

Specific Storage Paths for Popular Extensions

Finding the exact folder for widely used tools saves troubleshooting time. Look for these folder names inside your globalStorage directory:

Prettier: esbenp.prettier-vscode
ESLint: dbaeumer.vscode-eslint
GitLens: eamodio.gitlens
Python: ms-python.python

Delete the specific folder to reset that individual tool without affecting your other workspace setups.

How to Verify the Reset Was Successful

Reinstall the tool from the extensions marketplace. A successful hard reset triggers first-time welcome messages and setup wizards. If the extension immediately loads with your old preferences, a cached file still exists somewhere. Check that Settings Sync is fully disabled and re-examine the globalStorage paths above.

The first time setup dialog is your confirmation. No dialog means the cache is still there.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

No. Uninstalling only deletes the extension source code from the .vscode/extensions folder. The personal data, cached states, and authentication tokens stored in globalStorage and workspaceStorage are deliberately kept intact so your settings survive updates. To remove everything, you need to manually delete the matching folder inside globalStorage after uninstalling.

On Windows it is at %APPDATA%\Code\User\globalStorage. On macOS look in ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/globalStorage. On Linux it is at ~/.config/Code/User/globalStorage. If you are using VS Code Insiders, replace 'Code' with 'Code - Insiders' in the Windows path. Each extension gets its own subfolder named after its publisher identifier.

Settings Sync is almost always the cause. VS Code syncs your installed extensions to the cloud and restores them automatically when it detects they are missing. Turn off Settings Sync before deleting any extension data, complete the cleanup, reinstall the extension fresh, then re-enable sync and choose Replace Local to push your clean state to the cloud.

Navigate to your globalStorage directory and delete only the subfolder matching the specific extension's identifier, such as esbenp.prettier-vscode for Prettier. This is surgical and leaves every other extension's data untouched. If the issue is project-specific, check workspaceStorage for a hash folder containing a workspace.json that points to your affected project and delete that folder instead.

Run code --uninstall-extension publisher.extension-name in your terminal. This is the correct flag syntax with double dashes. Replace publisher.extension-name with the actual identifier you see in the extension's details panel, for example code --uninstall-extension esbenp.prettier-vscode. This method is especially useful on remote servers where the VS Code GUI is not available.

globalStorage holds extension data that applies across all projects, such as authentication tokens and general preferences. workspaceStorage holds data specific to a single project folder, like local indexes or project-specific history. When a bug appears in only one project, clear the workspaceStorage hash folder for that project. When the bug follows you everywhere, clear the globalStorage folder.

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Programming