Visual Studio / Code for Command Palette

Overview

This project provides a command palette extension for opening Visual Studio solutions and Visual Studio Code workspaces from a single, unified interface.

Features

• Optimized for Performance: Designed to remain fast and responsive, with a configurable page size and caching.
• Unified Launcher: Launch Visual Studio solutions, Visual Studio Code, Cursor, Google Antigravity, and Windsurf workspaces from a single, convenient interface.
• Top-level Search Integration: Extension results are integrated directly into the Command Palette's main search list. Configure the number of fallback results or use the "Search for..." item to jump into the extension's page with your query.
• Advanced Pinning: Keep your most important projects accessible with support for Pin to Home and Pin to Dock.
• Window-Switching: If a Visual Studio solution is already open, the extension will switch to the existing window instead of opening a new instance.
• Secondary Actions: Access additional commands for each entry:
  • Copy Path: Copies the full file path of the solution, workspace, or folder to the clipboard.
  • Pin to List / Unpin from List: Pins or unpins a workspace to keep it at the top of the list.
  • Open in Explorer: Opens the solution, workspace, or folder location in the default file explorer.
  • Open in Terminal: Opens the solution, workspace, or folder location in your preferred terminal (Command Prompt or PowerShell).
  • Run as Administrator: Open the solution, workspace, or folder with administrative privileges.
  • Refresh Workspaces: Manually reloads the list of solutions and workspaces to reflect any recent changes.

Installation

Note

Because the application is first signed by the Microsoft Store, updates will take a few days to be available via WinGet or in the Command Palette.

Windows Store

Via Command Palette

1. Open Command Palette
2. Select "Visual Studio / Code for Command Palette"

Via Winget

1. Open Command Prompt or PowerShell
2. Run the following command:

   winget install 15722UsefulApp.WorkspaceLauncherForVSCode

Manual Installation

1. Make sure you use the latest version of PowerToys.
2. Install the application by double-clicking the .msix file.

Settings

• General

  • Show Details Panel: Toggles the visibility of the details panel on the right.
  • Page Size: Sets the number of items to display per page. (Default: 16)
  • Fallback Count: Sets the number of top-level fallback items on the main list page. (Default: 8)
  • Enable Logging: Enables diagnostic logging for troubleshooting purposes.
  • Use Helper Launcher: Launches Visual Studio Code via a helper executable to ensure it comes to the foreground.

• Search & Appearance

  • Search By: Determines which properties to use when searching (Title, Path, or Both).
  • Sort By: Determines the sorting order of workspaces.
    • Last Used, Usage Count: The default sort order.
    • Last Used: Sorts by most recently used.
    • Usage Count: Sorts by most frequently used.
    • Recent from Visual Studio: Sorts based on Visual Studio's recent solution list.
    • Recent from Visual Studio Code: Matches the order in VS Code's 'Open Recent' list.
  • Tags: Configure which informational tags are displayed for each item.
    • Show 'Type' tag: Displays whether the item is a Workspace or Folder.
    • Show 'Target' tag: Displays the target application, like Visual Studio Code or Insiders.

• Commands

  • Terminal Type: Choose the terminal to be opened with the "Open in Terminal" command.
    • PowerShell
    • Command Prompt

• Visual Studio

  • Enable Visual Studio: Enables searching for Visual Studio solutions.
  • Secondary Command: Configures the secondary action for Visual Studio items (Open in Explorer or Run as Administrator).

• Visual Studio Code

  • Enabled Installations: Choose which VS Code installations to scan for workspaces.

    • Enable Visual Studio Code: The standard user-specific installation.
    • Enable Visual Studio Code (System): The system-wide installation.
    • Enable Visual Studio Code - Insiders: The Insiders edition.
    • Enable Visual Studio Code (Custom): Custom installations found in the system's PATH.
    • Enable Visual Studio Code (Custom Path): A custom Visual Studio Code installation path. Useful for package managers like Scoop (e.g., C:\Users\<username>\scoop\apps\vscode\1.110.1) or a portable mode installation.
    • Enable Cursor: The Cursor AI code editor.
    • Enable Google Antigravity: The Google Antigravity editor.
    • Enable Windsurf: The Windsurf AI code editor.
    • Configurable Paths: You can specify custom installation paths for Visual Studio Code, Cursor, Antigravity, and Windsurf if they are not in the default locations.

  • Secondary Command: Configures the secondary action for Visual Studio Code items.

    • Open in Explorer: Opens the item's location in File Explorer.
    • Run as Administrator: Launches the item with administrative privileges.

How It Works

This extension discovers installations of Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, Cursor, Google Antigravity, and Windsurf on your system.

• For Visual Studio Code, Cursor, Antigravity, and Windsurf, it reads the workspace history from their respective internal storage files (state.vscdb and storage.json).
• For Visual Studio, it uses vswhere.exe to find installations and then reads their configuration files to discover recent solutions.
• The extension also includes logic from the WindowWalker extension to detect if a solution is already open. If so, it switches to the existing Visual Studio window instead of creating a new one.

The results are then combined into a single, unified list for easy access.

For more detailed technical information about the project's architecture and components, please see the Project Guide.

Changelog

1.26.0.0

• Performance: Implement ListItem caching and optimize workspace lookup for faster loading.
• Search: Cache filtered results between fallback items to improve UI responsiveness during search.
• Fallback: Fallback items now support pinning and retrieve data from the primary cache.
• UI: Updated display name and subtitle logic for better clarity of workspace types.

1.25.0.0

• Pinning: Support for "Pin to Home" and "Pin to Dock".
• Detail: Added "Show Detail" command and enhanced the details panel.

1.24.0.0

• Customization: Added "Fallback Count" setting to configure top-level items.
• Search: Added filters for editor type and remote type.
• Sorting: Added "Recent from Visual Studio" and "Recent from Visual Studio Code" options.
• Focus: Added "Use Helper Launcher" setting to fix focus issues on some systems.

1.23.0.0

• Add support for Visual Studio Code custom installation paths
• Migrate solution to slnx format

1.22.0.0

• Add support for Cursor, Windsurf Google Antigravity editors
• Allow custom installation paths for Cursor and Antigravity

1.21.0.0

• Add option to open Visual Studio solutions in Visual Studio Code
• Add help command into refresh command context

1.9.0.0

• Native AOT compilation and trimming
• fix: WSL and Remote VS Code

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you have suggestions for improvements or new features, please open an issue or submit a pull request.