I built Dusk Office for myself.
No seriously — I was the only user. Ever. It was just my personal theme that I used every single day while working on my projects. I liked how it looked, it felt premium, and it made my long coding sessions easier on the eyes.
One day I thought: why not just publish it? like all the cool kids do 😄
So I did. I pushed it to Open VSX and the VS Code Marketplace at the same time, mostly out of curiosity. I didn't expect much — there are already thousands of color themes out there.
Then I started seeing devs install it. Sometimes 200 downloads in a single day. That motivated me to push updates regularly. With my new AI colleague I could even ship two updates in the same day.
6 weeks later:
- Open VSX → 5 200+ downloads
- VS Code Marketplace → 56 downloads
Same extension. Same period. Zero promotion. No Reddit, no Twitter, nowhere.
I was just as surprised as you are right now.
Wait... what is Open VSX?
If you only use VS Code, you might not know Open VSX exists.
It's an open-source extension registry used by editors that can't access the official Microsoft Marketplace — think Cursor, VSCodium, Windsurf, Gitpod, Theia...
These editors have millions of users. And they all pull from Open VSX.
Honestly, I had no idea this registry even existed before I published.
Why the gap?
My theory:
Cursor and Windsurf users care more about themes.
They're the kind of devs who customize everything — their editor, their terminal, their workflow. When they look for a theme, they actually browse and try things.
VS Code users? A lot of them just stick with the default or grab the first popular theme they find (One Dark Pro, Dracula, etc.). The market is more saturated and harder to break into.
On Open VSX, there's less competition. A quality theme stands out faster.
What this means if you're building an extension
If your extension targets developer tools, themes, or productivity — publish on Open VSX first. The audience is smaller but more engaged.
If your extension is more mainstream or targets beginners — the VS Code Marketplace is still the bigger pond.
Ideally? Publish on both. It takes 5 minutes extra and the upside is real.
My next move
Now that I know Open VSX is where my audience lives, I'm doubling down — better screenshots, better description, more variants.
The VS Code Marketplace is still an untapped opportunity for me. 56 downloads means almost nobody has seen it there yet. Same product, fresh audience.
That's basically free growth waiting to happen. 🚀