To use the DevTools from VS Code, you need the Dart extension. If you're debugging Flutter applications, you should also install the Flutter extension.

Start a debug session for your application by opening the root folder of your project (the one containing pubspec.yaml) in VS Code and clicking Run > Start Debugging (F5).

Once the debug session is active and the application has started, the Open DevTools commands become available in the VS Code command palette (F1):

The chosen tool will be opened embedded inside VS Code.

You can choose to have DevTools always opened in a browser with the dart.embedDevTools setting, and control whether it opens as a full window or in a new column next to your current editor with the dart.devToolsLocation setting.

A full list of Dart/Flutter settings are available on dartcode.org or in the VS Code settings editor. Some recommendation settings for Dart/Flutter in VS Code can also be found on dartcode.org.

You can also see whether DevTools is running and launch it in a browser from the language status area (the {} icon next to Dart in the status bar).