SnippetChest

A VS Code sidebar extension for storing, organizing, and instantly inserting your personal code snippets — right from the activity bar.

Features

• One-click insert — click any snippet to paste it at your cursor
• Add from selection — highlight code, right-click, and choose Add to SnippetChest... to save it instantly
• Categories — organize snippets into named groups; create empty categories without needing a snippet first
• Drag and drop — reorder snippets or move them between categories by dragging
• Inline rename — click the pencil icon on any category header to rename it in place
• Collapse / expand — click the arrow on a category header to hide or show its snippets
• Search — filter across all snippets by label in real time
• Edit & delete — hover over any snippet to reveal edit (✏) and delete (✕) buttons
• Persistent storage — snippets are saved to VS Code's global storage and survive restarts
• Export & import — save your snippets to a .json file to share with teammates; load a file to merge snippets in (duplicates are skipped automatically)

Getting Started

1. Open the Extensions panel in VS Code (Cmd+Shift+X on Mac, Ctrl+Shift+X on Windows/Linux)
2. Search for SnippetChest and click Install
3. Click the SnippetChest icon in the Activity Bar on the left
4. The panel opens — you're ready to go

Adding Snippets

From the panel

Click the + button in the My Snippets header to open the Add Snippet form. Fill in:

• Label (required) — the name shown in the list
• Description (optional) — shown as a subtitle
• Category — choose an existing one from the dropdown or type a new name
• Code (required) — paste your snippet; Tab key inserts a tab character

From the editor

1. Select any code block in an open file
2. Right-click → Add to SnippetChest...
3. The panel opens with the selected code pre-filled in the Code field
4. Fill in Label and Category, then save

Categories

• Click + Add Category at the bottom of the panel to create an empty category
• Type the name and press Enter (or Escape to cancel)
• Empty categories show a subtle hint and an ✕ button to remove them
• Rename a category by clicking the ✏ icon in its header — all snippets in it update automatically
• Collapse or expand a category by clicking the ▼ / ▶ arrow in its header

Export & Import

Save Snippets

Click Save Snippets at the bottom of the panel. A file picker opens — choose where to save the .json file.

Load Snippets

Click Load Snippets, pick a .json file, and any snippets not already present will be added. Snippets that match an existing one (same label, category, and code) are silently skipped.

The export format is a plain JSON array, human-readable and easy to share:

[
  {
    "label": "Async fetch",
    "description": "Fetch with error handling",
    "category": "JavaScript",
    "code": "const res = await fetch(url);\nconst data = await res.json();"
  }
]

Tips

• Use Tab inside the Code field to indent without leaving the form
• The search bar filters by label across all categories in real time
• Drag a snippet on top of another to reorder; drag across category headers to move it to a different group
• Collapsed state is remembered within a session but resets on reload