VS Code workspace template for Jupyter notebooks: a mix of "sane" defaults and personal preferences (edit as needed)

jupyter-notebook.code-workspace

{
    "folders": [
        {
            "path": "."
        }
    ],
    "settings": {
        "editor.bracketPairColorization.enabled": false,
        "editor.fontFamily": "Iosevka, Consolas, 'Courier New', monospace",
        "editor.fontLigatures": true,
        "workbench.colorTheme": "Cobalt2",
        "workbench.iconTheme": "vscode-icons",
        "workbench.editorAssociations": {
            "*.csv": "gc-excelviewer-csv-editor",
            "*.md": "vscode.markdown.preview.editor",
        },
        "autoDocstring.docstringFormat": "sphinx",
        "autoDocstring.guessTypes": true,
        "terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.windows": "Anaconda PowerShell Prompt",
        "terminal.integrated.profiles.windows": {
            "Anaconda PowerShell Prompt": {
                "path": "pwsh.exe",
                "args": [
                    "-ExecutionPolicy",
                    "ByPass",
                    "-NoExit",
                    "-Command",
                    "& '${env:USERPROFILE}\\anaconda3\\shell\\condabin\\conda-hook.ps1' ; conda activate '${env:USERPROFILE}\\anaconda3' ",
                ],
            },
        },
        "vsintellicode.features.apiExamples": "enabled",
        "vsintellicode.features.python.deepLearning": "enabled",
    },
    "extensions": {
        "recommendations": [
            "grapecity.gc-excelviewer",
            "kevinrose.vsc-python-indent",
            "leonhard-s.python-sphinx-highlight",
            "ms-python.gather",
            "ms-python.vscode-pylance",
            "ms-toolsai.jupyter-keymap",
            "ms-toolsai.jupyter-renderers",
            "ms-toolsai.vscode-jupyter-powertoys",
            "njpwerner.autodocstring",
            "visualstudioexptteam.intellicode-api-usage-examples",
            "visualstudioexptteam.vscodeintellicode-completions",
            "visualstudioexptteam.vscodeintellicode",
            "vscode-icons-team.vscode-icons",
            "wesbos.theme-cobalt2",
        ]
    }
}

Prerequisites

• Windows 10/11
• Visual Studio Code (from Microsoft Store or website)
• PowerShell (from Microsoft Store or GitHub)
• Anaconda installed in the default directory (%USERPROFILE%\anaconda3)
• (Optional) Iosevka, a narrow monospace font with italics and coding ligatures (grab super-ttc-iosevka-*.*.*.zip from GitHub)

How to use

1. Tweak the configuration to your liking in your text editor of choice (it's literally just a JSON file with a different extension)
2. Place the file at the root of the folder containing all your Jupyter notebooks
3. Double-click it to open the workspace in VS Code
4. Trust the workspace
   
5. Install the recommended extensions when prompted (or don't)
6. Reload VS Code if needed to activate the extensions

This workspace's default terminal profile launches PowerShell with exactly the same command as Anaconda Navigator does. That is to say, it sources %USERPROFILE%\anaconda3\shell\condabin\conda-hook.ps1, which sets the required environment variables, and activates the base Conda environment. This means you don't need to add Conda to PATH to use Conda in VS Code's terminal. On my system, it's also much faster to launch PowerShell this way than if you let conda init fiddle with your PowerShell profile.

You may wonder why I chose Cobalt2 as the workspace's default theme. It's because VS Code themes weren't built with Jupyter notebooks in mind. Nearly all themes make code cells way too low contrast to read comfortably. In my opinion, Cobalt2's titular cobalt blue background is one of the handful few with decent notebook code cell legibility out of the box. But IDE colour schemes are a contentious topic, I know. Change it if you don't like it.