How to turn off code completion in Vscode?

To disable code completion in Visual Studio Code, you must modify the relevant settings that control IntelliSense, the editor's intelligent code completion feature. The primary setting for this is `editor.quickSuggestions`, which governs whether suggestions appear as you type. You can turn this off for all file types by opening your user settings (JSON) and adding `"editor.quickSuggestions": false`. However, this setting is more granular; it can be configured per language mode (e.g., `"editor.quickSuggestions": { "comments": false, "strings": false, "other": false }`). Setting the `"other"` key to `false` is typically what disables suggestions in regular code. Additionally, you should consider disabling `editor.suggestOnTriggerCharacters`, which prevents suggestions from appearing when you type specific characters like `.` or `::`, and `editor.wordBasedSuggestions`, which stops suggestions based on words found elsewhere in your document.

Beyond these core editor settings, you may also need to address the behavior of specific language servers or extensions that provide their own completion logic. For instance, even with the above editor settings disabled, an active language server for Python or JavaScript might still push suggestions through a different channel. In such cases, you can disable IntelliSense for a particular language by going to the settings for that language (e.g., `[python]`) and setting `"editor.quickSuggestions"` to false there, or by disabling the relevant language extension entirely. For a more blanket approach, you can disable the entire IntelliSense feature by setting `"editor.suggest.showMethods"`, `"editor.suggest.showFunctions"`, and related `suggest.show*` properties to `false`, though managing `editor.quickSuggestions` is generally more direct and comprehensive.

The practical implication of disabling these features is a streamlined, interruption-free typing experience, which some developers prefer when writing in familiar codebases or for specific tasks like detailed text editing. It shifts the workflow from one of reactive selection from a pop-up list to proactive, deliberate coding, which can reduce cognitive load associated with parsing suggestions. However, the mechanism involves trade-offs; you lose not just word completion but also quick access to function signatures, parameter info, and member lists, which can hinder discovery and increase typographical errors. Therefore, this configuration is often applied situationally—perhaps only for certain file types or in specific workspaces—rather than as a universal default, highlighting VS Code's design as a highly customizable editor rather than a rigid IDE.