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These are the steps I took to set the Visual Studio Code status bar colors on macOS for a workspace (not globally).

Menu View → Command Palette... → search for "Open Workspace Settings (JSON)".

(This will open the project [project-name].code-workspace file.)

Add the color customizations in the settings property.

{
    "folders": [],
    "settings": {
        "workbench.colorCustomizations": {
            "statusBar.background": "#938e04",
            "statusBar.foreground": "#ffffff"
        }
    }
}

This is really useful when you have multiple instances of Visual Studio Code open and want to visually differentiate each window without having to change the global theme.

2022 Update:

Visual Studio Code now opens settings directly on command "Open Workspace Settings (JSON)".

You can just enter the workbench customizations directly:

{
   "workbench.colorCustomizations": {
        "statusBar.background": "#938e04",
        "statusBar.foreground": "#ffffff"
    }
}

These are the steps I took to set the Visual Studio Code status bar colors on macOS for a workspace (not globally).

Menu View → Command Palette... → search for "Open Workspace Settings (JSON)".

(This will open the project [project-name].code-workspace file.)

Add the color customizations in the settings property.

{
    "folders": [],
    "settings": {
        "workbench.colorCustomizations": {
            "statusBar.background": "#938e04",
            "statusBar.foreground": "#ffffff"
        }
    }
}

This is really useful when you have multiple instances of Visual Studio Code open and want to visually differentiate each window without having to change the global theme.

If you do not have a Workspace defined, Visual Studio Code will open .vscode/settings.json on command "Open Workspace Settings (JSON)".

If this is the case, you can just enter the workbench customizations directly:

{
   "workbench.colorCustomizations": {
        "statusBar.background": "#938e04",
        "statusBar.foreground": "#ffffff"
    }
}

These are the steps I took to set the Visual Studio Code status bar colors on macOS for a workspace (not globally).

Menu View → Command Palette... → search for "Open Workspace Settings (JSON)".

(This will open the project [project-name].code-workspace file.)

Add the color customizations in the settings property.

{
    "folders": [],
    "settings": {
        "workbench.colorCustomizations": {
            "statusBar.background": "#938e04",
            "statusBar.foreground": "#ffffff"
        }
    }
}

This is really useful when you have multiple instances of Visual Studio Code open and want to visually differentiate each window without having to change the global theme.

These are the steps I took to set the Visual Studio Code status bar colors on macOS for a workspace (not globally).

Menu View → Command Palette... → search for "Open Workspace Settings (JSON)".

(This will open the project [project-name].code-workspace file.)

Add the color customizations in the settings property.

{
    "folders": [],
    "settings": {
        "workbench.colorCustomizations": {
            "statusBar.background": "#938e04",
            "statusBar.foreground": "#ffffff"
        }
    }
}

This is really useful when you have multiple instances of Visual Studio Code open and want to visually differentiate each window without having to change the global theme.

2022 Update:

Visual Studio Code now opens settings directly on command "Open Workspace Settings (JSON)".

You can just enter the workbench customizations directly:

{
   "workbench.colorCustomizations": {
        "statusBar.background": "#938e04",
        "statusBar.foreground": "#ffffff"
    }
}

These are the steps I took to set the VS Code status bar colors on macOS for a workspace (not globally).

View | Command Palette... | Search for "Open Workspace Settings (JSON)"

(This will open the project [project-name].code-workspace file.)

Add the color customizations in the settings property.

{
    "folders": [],
    "settings": {
        "workbench.colorCustomizations": {
            "statusBar.background": "#938e04",
            "statusBar.foreground": "#ffffff"
        }
    }
}

This is really useful when you have multiple instances of VS Code open and want to visually differentiate each window without having to change the global theme.

These are the steps I took to set the Visual Studio Code status bar colors on macOS for a workspace (not globally).

Menu View → Command Palette... → search for "Open Workspace Settings (JSON)".

(This will open the project [project-name].code-workspace file.)

Add the color customizations in the settings property.

{
    "folders": [],
    "settings": {
        "workbench.colorCustomizations": {
            "statusBar.background": "#938e04",
            "statusBar.foreground": "#ffffff"
        }
    }
}

This is really useful when you have multiple instances of Visual Studio Code open and want to visually differentiate each window without having to change the global theme.