How do I open multiple instances of Visual Studio Code?

Today Microsoft released the Visual Studio Code file/folder editor.

The first limitation is it appears to be a single-instance application.

Is there a way of getting multiple instances, or otherwise having it open multiple folders simultaneously?

Solution 1:

Ctrl + Shift + N will open a new window, while Ctrl+K then releases the keys, and pressing O would open the current tab in a new window. You can then use menu File → Open Folder to have two instances of Visual Studio Code with different folders in each window.

⌘ + Shift + N and ⌘ + K for Mac.

List of helpful keyboard shortcuts can be found here.

Solution 2:

Use

code -n

when launching the program. This "Opens a new session of Visual Studio Code instead of restoring the previous session." (from here).

The way I used this was by modifying my "Code" shortcut to include the -n parameter:

If it does not work, restart VSCode

Solution 3:

Ctrl + Shift + P Duplicate Workspace in New Window Enter

from: https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_24#_duplicate-workspace-in-new-window

Solution 4:

Select menu File → New Window from the menu and then open the other folder in the new window.