VSCode Noise

A tiny productivity extension that helps you keep the VS Code Explorer focused by toggling noise patterns.

Click the button in the Explorer toolbar to hide or show files/folders matching your configured patterns across one or many workspace folders.

Before and After

Before - All files visible including noise:

After - Noise files hidden for cleaner view:

Multi-root workspaces are supported: the command applies to each root folder and remembers the last state per folder.

Features

• Toggle Noise in Explorer: Hide or show files/folders matching your configured glob patterns
• Command: "Toggle Noise in Explorer" (vsc-noise.toggleNoise)
• Keybinding: Cmd+Alt+N (macOS) / Ctrl+Alt+N (Windows/Linux)
• Explorer Button: Click the layers icon in the Explorer toolbar
• Uses files.exclude at the workspace folder level so it plays nicely with other settings
• Per-folder memory: remembers whether noise is hidden or shown for each folder

Installation

• Install from the VS Code Marketplace (search for “VSCode Noise”).
• Or from VSIX: download the .vsix and run “Extensions: Install from VSIX…”

Usage

• Use the Command Palette and search for “VSCode Noise”.
• Or use the default keybindings while the Explorer is visible:
  • Collapse Explorer: Cmd+Alt+C / Ctrl+Alt+C
  • Toggle Noise: Cmd+Alt+N / Ctrl+Alt+N

Configuration

VSCode Noise contributes the following settings under vsc-noise.*:

• vsc-noise.noisePatterns (array of string)
  • Glob patterns to hide from the Explorer (noise).
  • Defaults: ["**/node_modules", "**/.git", "**/.vscode", "**/.DS_Store", "**/.gitignore", "*config*", "**/build", "**/dist", "**/out", "**/target"]
  • Tips:
    • Plain names like dist become recursive (e.g. **/dist)
    • Use standard globbing (e.g. **/*.log, **/build/**)
• vsc-noise.stateScope (string) — placeholder
  • "workspace" uses workspaceState; "global" would use globalState for sync.
  • Default: "workspace"

These are applied per workspace folder when you run Toggle Noise. When hidden, patterns are added to files.exclude; when shown, the same keys are removed.

Commands

• vsc-noise.toggleNoise — Toggle hide/show of configured noise patterns across all workspace folders

Keybindings

• Cmd+Alt+N (macOS) / Ctrl+Alt+N (Windows/Linux) → Toggle Noise

You can customize keybindings in Keyboard Shortcuts by searching for the command IDs above.

Multi-root support

When you run Toggle Noise, VSCode Noise applies the change to every folder in the workspace. It also remembers the hidden/shown state per folder so subsequent toggles behave as expected.

Requirements

No additional requirements. Works with VS Code 1.102.0 and newer.

Troubleshooting

Nothing happens when toggling noise:

• Ensure vsc-noise.noisePatterns contains valid globs. Try simple patterns like **/dist or **/*.log

Patterns don't match as expected:

• Slashes are normalized and simple names are made recursive. Use explicit globs if needed.

License

MIT

Acknowledgements

Built with the VS Code Extension API.