Terminal Impact adds visual badges to your VS Code Explorer for files created or modified by your tools. Whether it's a CLI command or an AI Agent, never lose track of filesystem changes again.
Orange diamond badges (◆) appear next to modified files in your Explorer. Click "TI On" in the status bar to toggle the extension.
Why use this?
For CLI Users: You run rails g model User or npm install. Dozens of files appear. Which ones? This extension lights them up with orange diamond badges (◆) in the Explorer.
For AI Users (Cursor / Claude): AI agents write code fast. Sometimes too fast. Switch to "Always" mode to visually track every file the AI touches in real-time. The diamond icon (◆) makes it easy to spot changes without conflicting with GitHub's built-in indicators.
Features
🚀 Two Detection Modes
Always (Default): Highlights any file change on disk. Essential when using tools like Claude Code, Cursor, or external scripts. Works great for manual editing too!
Terminal Only: Zero noise. The extension only highlights files when a terminal command is running. Perfect for keeping focus on CLI-only workflows.
⚡️ Instant Visual Feedback
Diamond Badge (◆): Professional orange diamond appears next to any modified file in the Explorer
Smart Auto-Clear: Badges automatically disappear when you open the file
Theme-Aware: Orange color adapts perfectly to both light and dark VS Code themes
No Conflicts: Diamond icon is distinct from GitHub's circular indicators
🎛️ Status Bar Control
Toggle the extension On/Off instantly with a single click in your Status Bar.
TI On : Extension is watching for file changes
TI Off : Extension is disabled
Configuration
You can customize everything in your User Settings (settings.json):
Setting
Default
Description
terminalImpactHighlighter.triggerMode
"always"
Crucial Setting. Use "always" (default) to track all file changes. Switch to "terminalOnly" for CLI-only workflows.
terminalImpactHighlighter.highlightDurationMs
0
How long (in ms) badges stay visible. 0 means infinite (stays until you open the file). Set to 5000 for 5 seconds auto-clear.
terminalImpactHighlighter.enabled
true
Master switch for the extension.
terminalImpactHighlighter.include
["**/*"]
Glob patterns to watch.
terminalImpactHighlighter.exclude
[]
Glob patterns to ignore. Add patterns like ["**/node_modules/**", "**/.git/**"] for better performance.
Commands
Terminal Impact: Toggle Enabled: Quickly enable/disable the extension (same as clicking the Status Bar item).
Terminal Impact: Clear All Highlights: Manually remove all current badges from the explorer.
