MoleKey

Keyboard-first navigation and comfort pack for Visual Studio 2022 / 2026.

If your fingers remember Alt+Shift+O, Alt+M, Shift+Alt+H from other productivity tools, MoleKey gives that muscle memory a home — dig through your code and pop up exactly where you meant to, with every change backed up first and restorable in one click.

Screenshots

Open File in Solution (Alt+Shift+O) — type parts of the name or path, arrows pick without leaving the search box, preview below.

List Methods in File (Alt+M) — the active document's members, grouped by class, with the body of the selected one previewed underneath.

Find All References (Alt+Shift+F) — C/C++ call sites grouped by file with syntax-colored lines, declarations badged and left out of the count, and a filter box to narrow the list.

Task markers (Shift+Alt+K) — every TODO / FIXME / BUG in the solution's comments: markers with counts on the left, their locations on the right.

Colors & theme — pick a starting set, tick the classifications you want, recolor any of them; your original editor colors are backed up on first apply.

Navigation

All finders share one flow: type to filter → arrows to pick (without leaving the search box) → Enter to jump → Esc to close. Filter tokens work everywhere: /src narrows results to paths containing src, and .cpp (file finder) filters by extension. Matching is fuzzy — mkap finds MasterKeyApplier — with exact prefix and substring hits always ranked first.

In the file finder, Ctrl+Enter opens the file beside what you were reading (reusing the side group when there already is one), and Alt+Enter opens the file's C/C++ partner (.h ↔ .cpp) instead of the row you picked — so picking foo.h when you meant foo.cpp costs no second search.

With the editor split, Alt+Shift+W moves the caret to the group on the other side and Alt+Shift+U puts the split away — both from the editor, where you are when you want them.

Opened the wrong one? Ctrl+Tab cycles file → member → symbol (and Ctrl+1/2/3 goes straight to one) carrying your query with it, so a misfire costs one keystroke instead of Esc-plus-retype.

Hashtags — bookmarks that move with your code

Write #likeThis (starts with a letter, Unicode/Korean OK) in any comment:

// #renderLoop frame starts here
/* #refactor split this class */

• Tags render underlined in link-blue right in the editor
• Typing # in a comment autocompletes existing tags
• Preprocessor directives (#include, #region) are never mistaken for tags
• Solution-wide index with per-file caching; unsaved edits included

Task markers — Shift+Alt+K

The same comment parser also collects TODO, FIXME, HACK, BUG, XXX and UNDONE, browsable the same way: markers on the left with counts, their locations on the right, Enter jumps. Only uppercase markers in comments count, so ordinary prose ("note that this is a bug") never shows up, and neither does anything in code or a string literal. Unlike the built-in task list this covers the whole solution, not just the files you have open. Edit the list with task_markers in %APPDATA%\VsMasterKey\settings.txt.

Jump History — Shift+Alt+J

The trail of places you've been this session, as a filterable list with code previews. Navigate-backward (Ctrl+-) walks the same trail one blind step at a time and overshooting loses the spot; here you can see it and go straight there. It opens with the previous location selected, so Enter means "back one". Nothing is written to disk.

C/C++ references

• Alt+Shift+F on a C/C++ symbol lists its call sites grouped by file, with syntax-colored previews — including on VS 2026's new C++ editor
• An inline "N references" count next to each function definition (the CodeLens C++ never got); click it to open the same list
• Alt+O toggles header/source even when the counterpart lives in another folder or project — the whole solution is searched
• Ctrl+F12 toggles between a function's declaration and its definition (and cycles through overload lines) — no browse database required

Shortcut profile & custom keys

• MoleKey profile: a curated navigation key set (Alt+G go to definition, Alt+O toggle header/code, Alt+←/→ navigate back/forward, …) applied only with your consent, merged next to the VS defaults — never replacing them. Original bindings are backed up on first touch; Restore brings them back exactly.
• My Keys: bind any of Visual Studio's ~10,000 commands to your own shortcut — search the command, capture the key in a dialog (even combinations VS already uses), pick Global or Text Editor scope, Apply. Conflict scanning included.

Enhanced syntax coloring

Presets that give fields, parameters, statics and macros distinct colors (dark & light variants), or build your own per-item scheme with a color picker. Works on Visual Studio 2022 and 2026 (including the 2026 C++ editor rework).

Moving from VS 2022? It doesn't bring your Fonts and Colors along, and importing the .vssettings through VS drops every C++ item — 2026 renamed them. Import from VS 2022… on the Colors page maps the old names to the new ones so the C++ colors survive too. The same page also puts the editor settings the upgrade resets — scroll bar map mode, its preview tooltip, scroll bar marks, line numbers — back within reach.

Trust

• Every destructive operation (key bindings, colors) snapshots the original first — restore anytime
• All data stays local in %APPDATA%\VsMasterKey — nothing is transmitted
• Every editor decoration can be turned off
• The Health & Restore page shows profile, backup and command-hook status, runs Self-Diagnose, and keeps shortcut/color recovery in one place
• Restoring shortcuts turns automatic profile application off, so the restored state remains in place after restarting Visual Studio

Feedback

Bug reports and feature requests: Issues. Release history: CHANGELOG.

MoleKey (formerly VsMasterKey) is an independent extension and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the vendors of any other product.