PathPlease

🚀 Why PathPlease?

When working with AI assistants like Claude, ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, or Cursor, context is everything. PathPlease automatically adds file paths as comments to your code, making it crystal clear which file you're sharing with AI tools.

Before PathPlease ❌

import React from 'react'

const UserList = () => {
  // Which UserList.tsx is this? Admin or Client?
  // AI assistants have to guess...
}

After PathPlease ✅

// File: src/components/admin/UserList.tsx
import React from 'react'

const UserList = () => {
  // AI assistants instantly know the context!
}

✨ Features

• 🔄 Automatic Path Comments - Adds paths when you open or save files
• 🌍 Universal Language Support - Works with 70+ programming languages
• 🧠 Smart Detection - Skips files that can't have comments (JSON, images, etc.)
• ⚡ Zero Configuration - Works out of the box with sensible defaults
• 🎨 Customizable - Configure comment styles, path formats, and exclusions
• 📁 Workspace Aware - Shows relative paths from your project root
• 🔧 Professional Grade - Built with TypeScript, comprehensive error handling

🛠️ Installation

1. From VS Code Marketplace:

   • Open VS Code
   • Press Ctrl+Shift+X (or Cmd+Shift+X on Mac)
   • Search for "PathPlease"
   • Click "Install"

2. From Command Line:

   code --install-extension Furqan.pathplease
   

3. Manual Installation:

   • Download the .vsix file from Releases
   • Run: code --install-extension pathplease-1.0.0.vsix

🎯 Quick Start

PathPlease works automatically! Just install and start coding:

1. Install the extension
2. Open any file - Path comment is added automatically
3. Share with AI - Include the file path for better context

Manual Controls

📚 Language Support

PathPlease supports 70+ programming languages with appropriate comment styles:

⚙️ Configuration

Open VS Code settings (Ctrl+,) and search for "PathPlease":

Core Settings

{
  "pathplease.autoAddOnOpen": true,
  "pathplease.autoAddOnSave": false,
  "pathplease.pathFormat": "relative",
  "pathplease.insertPosition": "top"
}

Path Formats

• relative (default): src/components/UserList.tsx
• absolute: /Users/john/project/src/components/UserList.tsx
• filename: UserList.tsx

Custom Comment Styles

{
  "pathplease.commentStyles": {
    "python": { "start": "# ", "end": "" },
    "html": { "start": "<!-- ", "end": " -->" },
    "custom-lang": { "start": "/* ", "end": " */" }
  }
}

Exclude Patterns

{
  "pathplease.excludePatterns": [
    "node_modules/**",
    "dist/**",
    "**/*.min.js",
    "**/*.json",
    "**/*.log"
  ]
}

🤖 Perfect for AI Tools

PathPlease makes your code AI-ready:

Claude & ChatGPT

// File: src/hooks/useAuth.ts
export const useAuth = () => {
  // AI instantly knows this is a React hook in the hooks directory
}

GitHub Copilot

Better context leads to more accurate suggestions.

Cursor & Other AI IDEs

Enhanced file awareness for better code generation.

🎨 UI Integration

• Status Bar: Shows PathPlease status, click to toggle
• Command Palette: Access all commands via Ctrl+Shift+P
• Context Menu: Right-click for PathPlease options
• Editor Toolbar: Quick add button in editor title bar

🔧 Advanced Usage

Workspace Configuration

Create .vscode/settings.json in your project:

{
  "pathplease.pathFormat": "relative",
  "pathplease.excludePatterns": ["src/generated/**", "**/*.spec.ts"],
  "pathplease.commentStyles": {
    "typescript": { "start": "/** File: ", "end": " */" }
  }
}

Integration with Git

{
  "pathplease.enableGitIntegration": true
}

Coming in v1.1: Include branch info in comments

📊 Smart File Detection

PathPlease automatically skips files that can't have comments:

• ✅ Supported: .js, .py, .ts, .java, .css, .html, etc.
• ❌ Skipped: package.json, images, binaries, lock files

🚀 Performance

• Zero Impact: Only processes files when needed
• Smart Caching: Remembers which files already have comments
• Async Operations: Non-blocking file processing
• Memory Efficient: Minimal resource usage

🛠️ Development

Building from Source

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/furqanistic/pathplease.git
cd pathplease

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build extension
npm run compile

# Package for distribution
npm run package

Testing

# Compile and test
npm run pretest
npm test

# Manual testing
code . # Open in VS Code
# Press F5 to launch Extension Development Host

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see our Contributing Guide for details.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature
3. Commit changes: git commit -m 'Add amazing feature'
4. Push to branch: git push origin feature/amazing-feature
5. Open a Pull Request

📝 Changelog

v1.0.0

• ✨ Initial release
• 🎯 Automatic path comment insertion
• 🌍 Support for 70+ programming languages
• 🔧 Comprehensive configuration options
• 📊 Smart file type detection
• 🎨 Professional UI integration

See CHANGELOG.md for full history.

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Thanks to the VS Code team for excellent extension APIs
• Inspired by developer workflows with AI coding assistants
• Built with ❤️ for the developer community

📞 Support

• 🐛 Bug Reports: GitHub Issues
• 💡 Feature Requests: GitHub Discussions
• 📧 Email: furqanistic@gmail.com
• 🐦 Twitter: @furqanware