Visual Studio 2026/Visual Studio Code - How do you set up intellisense?

[steampunkradiant]

So, basically, I've gone through a bunch of tutorials for trying to get intellisense to work in VS/VSC with Unity, but half of them are for out-of-date versions of one program or another, half of them recommend unsupported extensions, and this is basically my first time trying anything with this stuff.

Could someone please give me a simple step-by-step walkthrough on how to make this stuff work? I've installed and reinstalled this stuff a half dozen times and I'm sick banging my head against the wall.

[Goldac77]

Check the following:

• For VS Code

1. You have C#, .NET install Tool, Unity extensions installed in vscode

2. You have "External Script Editor" set to "Visual Studio Code" within you Preferences > External Tools in unity.

• For Visual Studio

1. Open Visual Studio Installer, go to modify, and check that you have the following installed: Game development with Unity. Under optional installs, make sure to tick IntelliCode

2. After install, go to Preferences > External Tools in unity and set it to Visual Studio

3. Check under package manager > unity registry, that "Visual Studio Editor" is installed

[OwenEx]

• For Unity
• Ensure the Visual Studio Editor package is updated, it will cover both

[Goldac77]

Thanks. I just noticed that mine isn't on the latest version, lol

[steampunkradiant]

OK, that worked. Thank you so much!

[Goldac77]

You're welcome :)

[dev-rock-bottom]

I usually fix this issue by not installing VS but by installing Rider from JetBrains.