Launchpad — Natural Language Commands for VS Code

Type what you want in plain English — "run my tests", "commit changes", "open the terminal" — and Launchpad runs the matching VS Code command. No memorizing command names, no digging through menus.

Quick Start

1. Install the extension.
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+. (Cmd+Shift+. on Mac).
3. Type what you want: "open the terminal", "format the code", "zoom in".

No account, no setup, nothing to pay for. All matching runs locally in your editor.

Keyboard note: Ctrl+Shift+. replaces VS Code's default Focus Breadcrumbs binding, and on some non-US layouts (German, French) the . and / keys sit elsewhere. Rebind anytime under Preferences → Keyboard Shortcuts → "launchpad".

Examples

A small number of the 195 built-in intents map to commands provided by other extensions (for example, pull-request and git-history commands) — those work when the corresponding extension is installed.

Why Launchpad?

• 195 built-in intents — files, git, testing, debugging, editing, terminals, themes, and more
• Instant — matching is a local computation in your editor; no network round-trip, no spinner
• Private by design — what you type or say is never sent anywhere for processing (see Privacy for the one thing that does touch the network)
• Compound commands — "format the code and commit changes then open the terminal" runs all three, in order
• Custom phrases & macros — map your own phrases to any command via launchpad.customCommands and launchpad.macros
• Trace mode — run Launchpad: Run Command (with trace) to see the ranked candidates and confidence scores behind any match

Everything is free

All of it — the 195 intents, voice commands, the visual configurator and preset packs, the script generator, and usage statistics. No license, no tiers, no account.

Voice Commands

Press Ctrl+Shift+/ (Cmd+Shift+/ on Mac) and say it out loud — "format and save" — and Launchpad transcribes and runs it through the same 195-intent engine.

• On-device speech recognition via the VS Code Speech extension (installed automatically alongside Launchpad; first use may prompt for microphone access and a window reload). Audio is processed locally — no cloud transcription.
• Compound commands work by voice too.
• Use Launchpad: Voice Command (with trace) to see the ranked results for what you said.

Visual Configurator

Run Launchpad: Open Configurator from the Command Palette.

• Simple mode (default) — friendly labels, categorized dropdowns (Debug, Files, Editor, Terminal, Git, View, and more), visual workflow blocks. No command IDs to memorize.
• Advanced mode — raw command IDs, all 7 action types, and a browser for all 195 built-in intents.

Preset Packs

Load a preset to populate shortcuts and workflows in one click:

Presets merge into your existing config: entries under different names are simply added, and if a preset entry shares a name with one of yours, Launchpad asks before touching it (Replace mine / Keep mine / Cancel).

Action Runner

Macros support 7 action types beyond plain VS Code commands: command, open, goto, type, select, snippet, delay. Plain string steps (command IDs) still work, and you can hand-write macros in settings.json — the visual builder for them lives in the Configurator.

Example — a one-word workspace launcher:

"launchpad.macros": {
    "my app": [
        { "action": "open", "path": "/home/you/projects/my-app" },
        { "action": "command", "command": "workbench.action.terminal.new" }
    ]
}

Say "my app" and your project opens with a fresh terminal ready to go. Use full absolute paths (C:/projects/my-app on Windows) — ~ is not expanded.

Script Generator

Say "create a flask server" or "write a dockerfile" and get a complete, ready-to-run file. 15 templates included: Flask, Express, FastAPI, React Component, HTML5 Landing Page, Dockerfile, GitHub Actions CI, Bash Deploy Script, Python CLI, WebSocket Server, Data Pipeline, Jest Tests, Pytest Tests, Makefile, and a universal .gitignore.

Run Launchpad: Browse Script Templates to pick from the catalog.

Privacy & Telemetry

Command processing is 100% local — typed and spoken input is classified in your editor and never uploaded. One thing touches the network:

• Anonymous weekly ping (default on): a locally generated random ID, the extension version, and an edition tag (always "free") — nothing else, never your commands or code. Disable it with "launchpad.telemetry": false; that stops all pings and no identifier is even generated.

Requirements

• VS Code 1.90+
• Voice uses the VS Code Speech extension, installed automatically with Launchpad, plus microphone access.

Support

• Issues & questions: github.com/Nascent-Poly/launchpad/issues
• License: Proprietary — see LICENSE

Made by Nascent Poly