Deliberately plain VS Code profiles with an 18 px editor font, Vim motions, and almost everything else switched off. Monk uses Quiet Light; Monk Dark uses Dark Modern.
Read the script first, then run it:
curl -fsSL https://gist.githubusercontent.com/vinitkumar/0a6940afafc25b1f905516dfb4b41dbd/raw/install.sh | less
curl -fsSL https://gist.githubusercontent.com/vinitkumar/0a6940afafc25b1f905516dfb4b41dbd/raw/install.sh | shTo install the dark-only variant as a separate Monk Dark profile:
curl -fsSL https://gist.githubusercontent.com/vinitkumar/0a6940afafc25b1f905516dfb4b41dbd/raw/install.sh | MONK_VARIANT=dark shThe installer supports macOS and Linux. It requires code, curl, and sqlite3. It creates or updates only the selected Monk profile, installs VSCodeVim there, copies the matching settings, and disables the built-in IDE and unused color-theme extensions listed in the script. Existing settings and state databases for that profile are backed up before replacement.
On the first run, the installer deliberately opens an empty VS Code window. VS Code creates a missing profile only when it opens a window or folder with that profile; extension-management commands cannot create it. Leave the window open while the installer finishes. Later runs can update the existing profile without this creation step.
Set MONK_PROFILE_NAME to use another profile name with either variant:
curl -fsSL https://gist.githubusercontent.com/vinitkumar/0a6940afafc25b1f905516dfb4b41dbd/raw/install.sh | MONK_PROFILE_NAME=Quiet shThe font stack falls back to Menlo, Monaco, or monospace when Berka Mono Instrument is unavailable.
Window transparency is not included. It requires patching VS Code's Electron shell through a separate extension, survives outside the profile, and is commonly reset by VS Code updates. Keeping that out of a curl | sh installer is intentional.
Both variants disable cursor blinking, smooth scrolling, workbench motion, navigation buttons, tree sticky headers, and empty-editor hints. Content-based language detection is disabled; choose the language manually for untitled buffers when needed. These settings reduce distractions, but do not guarantee a measurable speedup.
For quiet editing outside Zen Mode, run Notifications: Toggle Do Not Disturb Mode if it is not already enabled. This is application-wide state, not a portable profile setting; it can also suppress error notifications. Set "update.showReleaseNotes": false in the Default profile's User settings too, because VS Code treats it as an application-wide setting. The installer leaves application-wide state unchanged.
For performance checks, use Developer: Startup Performance and Help > Open Process Explorer with a representative project. Vim extension-host isolation remains opt-in: only try "extensions.experimental.affinity": { "vscodevim.vim": 1 } if typing is slow; it adds another process.