Note that the default regex engine does not. But ripgrep (including the version of ripgrep bundled with VS Code) does permit being built with PCRE2, which allow

Note that the default regex engine does not. But ripgrep (including the version of ripgrep bundled with VS Code) does permit being built with PCRE2, which allows one to use the -P/--pcre2 flag to switch regex engines. You can even use '--engine auto' to have ripgrep automatically select the regex engine. With that said, I of course agree with your broader point. To say that regexes are "useless" without look-around/backreferences is absolutely ridiculous.