I’d rather not have to type out all the metadata types in the package.xml but i’m not seeing any other way to do it?
Answer
You can use this VS Code extension
Salesforce Package.xml Generator Extension for VS Code
This extension provides an User Interface to choose metadata components for Package.xml file for development against sandboxes or DE orgs (Org Development Model with VS Code). This is similar to Eclipse Force.com IDE Add/Remove Metadata Components option.
Affiliation : I am the developer for this extension. It is free to use.
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : ensir , Answer Author : Vignaesh Ram