🤩 Awesome Projects

The smarter way to manage your VS Code projects

Awesome Projects Preview

What is Awesome Projects?

Awesome Projects is a Visual Studio Code extension that centralizes all your development projects in one place. Designed for developers who constantly switch between multiple repositories and environments, it gives you instant access to project folders, Git repositories, environment URLs, time tracking, and more — all from a dedicated sidebar panel.

✨ Features

📂 Project Management

Feature	Description
Drag & Drop Sorting	Reorder projects intuitively by dragging them
Custom Colors	Assign colors to projects for quick recognition (includes random generator)
Custom Icons	Use Tabler Icons, emojis, or text as project icons
Project Scanner	Automatically scan directories to import Git repositories in bulk
Multi-workspace Support	Works across different VS Code workspaces
Groups & Nesting	Organize projects into collapsible nested groups with persistent state
Inline Renaming	Double-click a project title to rename it inline
Live Search	Filter the project list instantly as you type
Current Project Badge	Highlights the project that matches the open workspace
Missing Project Handling	Hide or show projects whose local path no longer exists

🔗 Git & Remote Integration

Feature	Description
Auto-detection	Detects Git repositories automatically
Submodule Support	Recognizes and displays Git submodules
URL Conversion	Converts between SSH and HTTPS remote URLs
Platform Links	Direct links to GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket
Remote Repositories	Add and open remote repositories via VS Code's Remote Repositories workflow

🌍 Environment Management

Feature	Description
Multi-environment URLs	Store Production, Staging, Dev, and Management URLs per project
Favicon Detection	Auto-fetches favicons for visual URL recognition
Custom Icons per URL	Override favicons with a custom `iconUrl`
One-click Access	Open any environment URL directly from the sidebar

⏱️ Time Tracking

Feature	Description
Session Tracking	Start, stop, and continue time tracking sessions per project
Auto-start	Optionally start tracking automatically when a registered workspace opens
Branch-aware Sessions	Captures the current Git branch and extracts ticket IDs (e.g. `JIRA-123`)
Status Bar Timer	Shows the active timer in the VS Code status bar
Extension Badge	Displays a badge on the Activity Bar icon while a timer is running
Time Tracking Report	Visualize tracked time by day, week, month, or custom range

⚙️ System Integration

Feature	Description
File Manager	Open project folders in Finder/Explorer/Nautilus
Open in Terminal	Launch a terminal in the project's root folder
Open in New Window	Open a project in a new VS Code window
Reveal in Explorer	Reveal the project folder directly in VS Code's Explorer panel
Cross-platform	Full support for Windows, macOS, and Linux
Performance	Optimized for large project collections with aggressive caching
Status Bar	Shows the current project name in the VS Code status bar — click to open the project list
What's New	In-extension panel highlighting new features after an update

🚀 Getting Started

Requirements

Visual Studio Code 1.96.0 or higher
Git (optional — required for Git integration features)

Installation

Open VS Code and go to the Extensions panel (Ctrl+Shift+X / Cmd+Shift+X)
Search for "Awesome Projects"
Click Install
The 🤩 icon appears in the Activity Bar — click it to open the panel
Click "+ Add Project" to add your first project

Tip: Use the "Scan for Projects" button to automatically import all Git repositories from a directory.

⚙️ Configuration

Projects are stored in VS Code settings and can be edited directly or managed through the UI. The project list is machine-specific, so it is not synchronized across devices via Settings Sync. This lets you maintain separate projects on different computers (for example, Mac and Windows).

{
  "awesomeProjects.projects": [
    {
      "path": "/path/to/your/project",
      "name": "My Project",
      "color": "#0078D4",
      "icon": "brand-github",
      "group": "Work",
      "remoteUrl": "https://github.com/owner/repo",
      "productionUrl": "https://example.com",
      "stagingUrl": "https://staging.example.com",
      "devUrl": "http://localhost:3000",
      "managementUrl": "https://linear.app/my-team",
      "iconUrl": "https://example.com/favicon.png"
    }
  ]
}

Settings Reference

Projects

Setting	Type	Default	Description
`awesomeProjects.projects`	`array`	`[]`	List of configured projects (machine-specific, not synced)
`awesomeProjects.projects.hideMissing`	`boolean`	`false`	Hide projects whose local path no longer exists
`awesomeProjects.scan.depth`	`number`	`5`	Maximum recursion depth when scanning for Git projects
`awesomeProjects.scan.excludePatterns`	`array`	`["node_modules", "vendor", "dist", "build"]`	Folder names to exclude when scanning for Git projects

Appearance

Setting	Type	Default	Description
`awesomeProjects.appearance.useFavicons`	`boolean`	`true`	Show favicons next to environment URLs
`awesomeProjects.appearance.quickActionButtonDisplay`	`string`	`"hover"`	When to show quick action buttons: `always`, `hover`, or `hidden`

Groups

Setting	Type	Default	Description
`awesomeProjects.groups.sortOrder`	`string`	`"alphabetical"`	Sort order for project groups: `alphabetical`, `alphabetical-desc`, or `manual`
`awesomeProjects.groups.groupBy`	`string`	`"auto"`	Grouping mode: `auto`, `group-field`, or `flat`

Status Bar

Setting	Type	Default	Description
`awesomeProjects.statusBar.enabled`	`boolean`	`true`	Show the current project in the VS Code status bar
`awesomeProjects.statusBar.format`	`string`	`"$(folder) ${parent} > ${name}"`	Status bar text format. Placeholders: `${name}`, `${parent}`, `${path}`

Updates

Setting	Type	Default	Description
`awesomeProjects.updates.showUpdateNotification`	`boolean`	`true`	Show the What's New panel after an extension update

Time Tracking

Setting	Type	Default	Description
`awesomeProjects.timeTracking.enabled`	`boolean`	`true`	Enable the built-in time tracking feature
`awesomeProjects.timeTracking.autoStart`	`boolean`	`false`	Automatically start tracking when a registered workspace is opened
`awesomeProjects.timeTracking.tickIntervalSeconds`	`number`	`10`	How often the running timer is updated (1–300 seconds)
`awesomeProjects.timeTracking.statusBarEnabled`	`boolean`	`true`	Show the active timer in the status bar
`awesomeProjects.timeTracking.badgeEnabled`	`boolean`	`true`	Show a badge on the extension icon while a timer is running
`awesomeProjects.timeTracking.retentionDays`	`number`	`90`	Days to keep individual sessions before aggregating them
`awesomeProjects.timeTracking.extractTicketIdFromBranch`	`boolean`	`true`	Use ticket IDs from branch names as session titles
`awesomeProjects.timeTracking.ticketIdPattern`	`string`	`"[A-Z]{2,}-\\d+"`	Regex for extracting ticket IDs from branch names
`awesomeProjects.timeTracking.weekStartsOn`	`string`	`"sunday"`	First day of the week for the This Week report
`awesomeProjects.timeTracking.maxReportSessions`	`number`	`500`	Maximum number of sessions rendered in the Time Tracking Report

Project Fields

Field	Required	Description
`path`	✅	Absolute path to the project folder or repository URL for remote projects
`name`	✅	Display name shown in the sidebar
`color`	—	HEX color for the project card accent
`icon`	—	Tabler Icons name (e.g. `brand-github`, `heart-filled`) or emoji/text for the project icon
`remoteUrl`	—	Remote repository URL. When set, the project opens via VS Code's Remote Repositories workflow
`isRemote`	—	Set internally for remote repository projects
`group`	—	Group name for organizing projects into collapsible sections
`productionUrl`	—	Production environment URL
`stagingUrl`	—	Staging environment URL
`devUrl`	—	Local development URL
`managementUrl`	—	Project management tool URL (Jira, Linear, etc.)
`iconUrl`	—	Custom favicon or icon URL. Overrides the favicon fetched from the Production URL
`timeSpentSeconds`	—	Accumulated tracked time for this project in seconds

🤝 Contributing

Contributions, bug reports, and feature requests are welcome!

📄 License

Released under the GNU General Public License v3.0.

🙏 Acknowledgments

Icons by Tabler Icons — MIT License
Color picker inspired by VS Code's built-in color picker
❤️ Sponsor this project

Awesome Projects

Mathias Elle