vscode-project-manager is a free, open source project & work management project written in TypeScript and released under GPL-3.0. It has 2,674 GitHub stars, 343 forks and 49 open issues, and was last pushed 8 days ago. On this registry it ranks #29 of 62 tracked projects in Project & Work Management, with 5 head-to-head comparisons available. It gained 2 stars over the last 3 tracked days.
What is vscode-project-manager?
What it is
The vscode-project-manager project is a Visual Studio Code extension written in TypeScript and licensed under GPL-3.0. It lives in the Visual Studio Code extension ecosystem, and its stated purpose is to help users easily access projects no matter where they are located.
The concrete problem it solves is project switching inside the editor. Developers often keep code in scattered folders, workspaces, and version-control repositories, and the extension gives them a saved list of projects, a side bar, commands, and filters so they can find and open a folder or workspace without manually navigating the file system each time.
Key capabilities
It saves any folder or workspace as a named project, and it can suggest a name automatically when the user runs Project Manager: Save Project.
It auto-detects Git, Mercurial, and SVN repositories, VS Code folders, and other folders, so users can work with detected projects as well as favorites.
It organizes projects with tags, and the command Project Manager: Filter Projects by Tag filters saved projects by selected tags.
It opens projects in the same window or in a new window, with dedicated commands for listing projects to open and listing projects to open in a new window.
It stores favorites in projects.json, which users can edit inside Visual Studio Code with Project Manager: Edit Projects, including paths, tags, enabled state, and profile fields.
Who uses it and how
A developer who works across several local folders can save each folder as a project and use the side bar or list command to return to it.
A user with repositories under Git, Mercurial, or SVN can rely on auto-detection instead of manually adding every repository to the list.
A user who separates work, personal, or editor-related projects can tag entries and filter by tag to reduce the visible list.
A keyboard-focused user can bind keys to the project list and move through projects without using the mouse.
Getting started
The README links to the Visual Studio Code Marketplace and states that the extension is published to Open VSX, so the typical method is to install the extension into Visual Studio Code from one of those extension sources. After installation, users can save a project, edit projects.json, and open saved or detected projects through the provided commands.
When to use it — and when not to
It is useful when the user wants an inside-the-editor way to manage project access in Visual Studio Code, because the provided facts do not require a separate server, database, SMTP setup, or hosted service. It is less suitable when the user needs a standalone project-management system, because the extension is tied to the Visual Studio Code editor and depends on a well-formed projects.json file.
project readme (upstream, from github) — read inline
Project Manager is an extension created for Visual Studio Code. If you find it useful, please consider supporting it.
Project Manager
It helps you to easily access your projects, no matter where they are located. Don't miss those important projects anymore.
You can define your own Projects (also called Favorites), or choose for auto-detect Git, Mercurial or SVN repositories, VSCode folders, or any other folder.
Here are some of the features that Project Manager provides:
Save any folder or workspace as a Project
Auto-detect Git, Mercurial or SVN repositories
Organize your projects using Tags
Open projects in the same or new window
Identify deleted/renamed projects
A Status Bar which identifies the current project
A dedicated Side Bar
Features
Available Commands
Project Manager: Save Project Save the current folder/workspace as a new project
Project Manager: Edit Project Edit your projects manually (projects.json)
Project Manager: List Projects to Open List all saved/detected projects and pick one
Project Manager: List Projects to Open in New Window List all saved/detected projects and pick one to be opened in New Window
Project Manager: Filter Projects by Tag Filter the Favorite projects by selected tags
Manage your projects
Save Project
You can save the current folder/workspace as a Project at any time. You just need to type its name.
It suggests a name to you automatically :)
Edit Projects
For easier customization of your project list, you can edit the projects.json file, directly inside Code. Just execute Project Manager: Edit Projects and the projects.json file is opened. Simple as this:
You can use ~ or $home while defining any path. It will be replaced by your HOME folder.
Be sure that the JSON file is well-formed. Otherwise, Project Manager will not be able to open it, and an error message like this should appear. In this case, you should use the Open File button to fix it.
Access
List Projects to Open
Shows your projects and select one to open.
List Projects to Open in New Window
Just like List Projects but always opening in New Window.
Keyboard Focused Users
If you are a keyboard focused user and uses Vim like keyboard navigation, you can navigate thru the project list with your own keybindings.
Just use the when clause "inProjectManagerList", like:
The extension support Remote Development scenarios, and you may choose how to use it, depending on your needs
I access Remotes, but most of my work is Local
This is the regular scenario, and that's why you don't need to do anything special for the extension to work. It works out of the box.
When installed locally, you can save any Container, SSH, WSL or Codespaces projects as Favorites. Each one will have its own icon to be properly identified, and when you select them, VS Code will open the remote automatically.
It just works
But what if I do most of my work on Remotes
If you normally connect to remotes (like SSH/WSL) and would like to save Favorite projects on that remote, or to be able to auto-detect repos located on that remote, you must activate/install the extension to work on remotes.
You just have to add the lines below on your User Settings.
Filter Projects Through Full Path (false by default)
"projectManager.filterOnFullPath": true
Custom projects file (projects.json) location
If you intend to share projects between Stable and Insider installations, or if you store your settings in different locations (cloud services), you can indicate an alternative location (folder path) for the projects.json file.
vscode-project-manager is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. There is no licence fee and no seat count — you can self-host it or, where the project offers one, pay a vendor for a managed version instead.
What does vscode-project-manager do?
Project Manager Extension for Visual Studio Code
What is vscode-project-manager written in?
vscode-project-manager is primarily written in TypeScript. Its source is publicly available at https://github.com/alefragnani/vscode-project-manager, and it has 2,674 GitHub stars.