getout

Open linked files in their default Windows application instead of a VS Code tab.

When VS Code opens a tab on a local file of a listed type (a link clicked in an AI assistant's chat, Ctrl+P, the explorer), getout closes the tab and hands the file to Windows (explorer.exe <path>), which opens it in the associated application: draw.io for .drawio, your browser for .md, Word, Excel, and so on.

Settings

getout.externalTypes: list of extensions to hand to Windows. Default: .md, .html, .pdf, .png, .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .svg, .drawio, .vsdx, .docx, .xlsx, .pptx, .odt, .ods.

Executable, script and macro-enabled types (.exe, .bat, .ps1, .js, .docm, ...) are never handed to Windows, even when listed.

The setting is application-scoped: a workspace .vscode/settings.json cannot change it.

If the default Windows application for a type is VS Code itself, the file would bounce back and forth. getout detects it (3 hand-overs of the same file within 10 seconds), keeps the file in VS Code and shows a warning: pick another default application or remove the type from the list.

Edit a file in VS Code anyway

Right-click the file in the explorer or its tab and choose Open in VS Code (text).

Limitations

• The tab appears for a fraction of a second, then closes.
• Interception applies to every opening inside VS Code (Ctrl+P, explorer), hence the right-click command.
• Windows only. Diff tabs and files already open when VS Code starts are left alone.
• Works in VS Code and derivatives that accept the VSIX; in a terminal, a path stays a path.

License

MIT