The Editor Extension Race Screensaver
The The Editor Extension Race screensaver shows the most-downloaded extensions on Open VSX, key-less. Open VSX is the vendor-neutral registry the non-Microsoft editors use — VSCodium, Gitpod, Eclipse Theia — because the official Marketplace is licensed for Microsoft's own builds only. So this is the same ecosystem viewed from outside it, and Python tooling dominates by a wide margin. It's free, runs in your browser, and ESC exits.
Live preview
Press ESC to leave fullscreen. Settings are saved in your browser only.
How the The Editor Extension Race screensaver works
The saver reads the source described above and draws it on a canvas — no account, no tracking.
The most-downloaded extensions on Open VSX, key-less. Open VSX is the vendor-neutral registry the non-Microsoft editors use — VSCodium, Gitpod, Eclipse Theia — because the official Marketplace is licensed for Microsoft's own builds only. So this is the same ecosystem viewed from outside it, and Python tooling dominates by a wide margin.
It refreshes on a schedule, so what you see stays current.
Colours can be changed in settings; nothing is stored beyond your own browser.
Open VSX and the extension registry split
Visual Studio Code is built from an open-source codebase, but the Visual Studio Marketplace that the Microsoft-branded product connects to is, under Microsoft's terms, intended only for Microsoft's own products. Forks such as VSCodium and products built on Eclipse Theia therefore cannot legitimately use it. Open VSX is a vendor-neutral, open-source alternative: a server, a web app similar to the Marketplace, and a command-line publishing tool, licensed under the Eclipse Public License 2.0.
The public registry runs at open-vsx.org under the Eclipse Foundation, and the project began at TypeFox in 2019 before moving to Eclipse. An extension is a package that adds features to an editor, such as language support, themes, debuggers or integrations. Availability and versions can differ from the Marketplace, so an extension listed in one registry may be missing or older in the other.
Download counts are cumulative fetches, which include updates and automated installs, so they are better read as popularity than as a count of users. The registry serves a narrower set of editors and cloud development environments than the Marketplace, which is far larger, so its rankings reflect who uses those particular tools.
A worked example
The most-downloaded extensions on Open VSX, key-less. Open VSX is the vendor-neutral registry the non-Microsoft editors use — VSCodium, Gitpod, Eclipse Theia — because the official Marketplace is licensed for Microsoft's own builds only. So this is the same ecosystem viewed from outside it, and Python tooling dominates by a wide margin.
Settings & tips
- Accent and Background recolour the display.
- Every value on screen comes from the live source — nothing is simulated.
- Press ESC to leave fullscreen.
Frequently asked questions
- Is this real data?
- Yes — it comes from the source named on this page and is refreshed on a schedule.
- Is a key needed?
- No. This source is fully key-less.
- Is it free?
- Yes, and it runs entirely in your browser.
- Why does Open VSX exist?
- The Microsoft Marketplace is intended only for Microsoft's own products, so editors built from the open source code needed a vendor-neutral registry.
- Who runs Open VSX?
- The public instance at open-vsx.org is operated under the Eclipse Foundation, and the software is an open-source Eclipse project.
- Are the extensions identical to the ones on the Microsoft Marketplace?
- Not necessarily. Availability and versions can differ, and some extensions exist only on one registry.