SideTabs is a Visual Studio Code extension that displays your editor tabs vertically in a dedicated sidebar panel, providing an alternative way to navigate and manage your open files.
Features
Vertical Tab Layout: View all your open tabs in a clean, vertical list
Smart Tab Management:
Focus tabs with a single click
Close tabs using the X button
Reorder tabs with drag and drop
Rich Visual Indicators:
File-specific icons that match your VS Code icon theme
Orange indicators for unsaved files
Error and warning counters for each file
Context Menu Actions:
Close a tab
Close other tabs
Close all tabs
Split editor
Copy file path
Visual Customization:
Configurable tab height
Adjustable font size
Optional directory path display
Theme Integration: Automatically adopts your VS Code color theme
Multilingual Support: Available in English and Spanish
Installation
Install the extension from the VS Code Marketplace
The SideTabs icon will appear in your Activity Bar
Click the icon to open the vertical tabs panel
Usage
View Management:
Click on any tab to switch to that file
Drag and drop tabs to reorder them
Use the context menu (right-click) for additional options
Configuration:
Adjust settings through VS Code's settings panel:
sidetabs.fontSize: Set the font size for tab labels (10-24px)
sidetabs.tabHeight: Set the height of tabs (30-60px)
sidetabs.showDirectoryPath: Show or hide the directory path beside filenames
Development
Build Instructions
Clone the repository
Install dependencies:
npm install
Compile the extension:
npm run compile
Press F5 in VS Code to launch the extension in a development host
Project Structure
src/extension.ts: Main extension code
media/icon.svg: Activity bar icon
media/close.svg: Tab close button icon
media/save.svg: Unsaved file indicator icon
Technical Implementation
Built on VS Code's Webview API for seamless UI integration
Uses the official Tab Groups API to track and manage editor tabs
Implements custom icon handling with theme integration
Maintains an independent tab order separate from VS Code's native ordering
Integrates with VS Code's diagnostics system for error/warning display
Planned Improvements
Persist custom tab order between sessions
GitHub Copilot integration
Tab filtering and search
Translation into additional languages
✅ Improved initial load speed
Improved context menu
Add different views depending on whether it's in the right or left sidebar
License
This extension is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPL-3.0).
