Managing Peacock colours in shared settings

The Problem

Let’s say your repo has this:

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my-project/
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  .vscode/
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    settings.json  ← in version control

Every time you tweak a setting like the Peacock color, VS Code tries to update this file. And then Git shows a dirty diff you don’t want to commit. 😩

The Goal

We want to keep the repo’s .vscode/settings.json exactly as it is — but add our own override settings just for us, like:

• Custom Peacock color for this project
• Font size tweaks
• Maybe your own formatter rules

And we want VS Code to use those local settings without interfering with version-controlled files.

The Solution

To fix this we need to take advantage of a VSCode feature called Multi-Root Workspaces.

1. Open the folder normally in VS Code

Open your project as usual in VS Code (File > Open Folder or from terminal).

2. Convert to a workspace

From the menu:

• File > Add Folder to Workspace…

• Re-add the current folder (yes, even though it’s already open)

• Now go to File > Save Workspace As…

• Save it next to your project, e.g.: my-project.code-workspace

You’ve just created a workspace file.

3. Add workspace-level settings

Open your new my-project.code-workspace file, and it should look something like this:

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{
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  "folders": [
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    {
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      "path": "my-project"
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    }
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  ],
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  "settings": {
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    // your local overrides can go here
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  }
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}

These settings apply only when this workspace is open.

You can now add anything you want here without touching the repo’s .vscode/settings.json.

4. Set your own Peacock color (finally!)

Let’s say you want to set a specific Peacock color for this workspace. Add this inside the settings section:

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"peacock.color": "#7744dd"

And now every time you open the my-project.code-workspace file, VS Code will light up your workspace with your own custom Peacock color. 🦚

How to Open the Workspace in the Future

Instead of opening the project folder directly, open the my-project.code-workspace file:

File > Open Workspace…

Or open it from your “Open Recent…” in VS Code

You’ll know it’s working if you see the folder name under a “Workspace” heading in the Explorer sidebar.

One Gotcha to Watch For

If your team is using settings in .vscode/settings.json that conflict with your own, VS Code merges them, but project-level settings win. That means you can’t override everything this way.

But for Peacock colors, UI tweaks, and things like excluded files or experimental extensions, it works great.

Recap

• Multi-root workspaces let you create a .code-workspace file that wraps your project.
• You can use this to define your own settings that don’t touch version-controlled files.
• It’s perfect for tools like Peacock, local-only extensions, and developer-specific overrides that aren’t included in the shared settings.json