diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 5550599174..472b157777 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 *.egg-info/
 .DS_Store
 .mypy_cache/
+.vscode/
 venv/
 target/
 
diff --git a/.vscode/settings.json b/.vscode/settings.json.default
similarity index 100%
rename from .vscode/settings.json
rename to .vscode/settings.json.default
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4ab1e5e053..91475efeed 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -47,6 +47,12 @@ Optionally, download java dependencies
 mvn dependency:copy-dependencies
 ```
 
+Finally, if you are using Visual Studio Code, you may also wish to use our recommended defaults:
+
+```bash
+cp .vscode/settings.json.default .vscode/settings.json
+```
+
 And you should now be set up to start working in the repo! The easiest way to do this is for many tasks is to use `bqetl`, which is described below.