Project Structure Finder

A VS Code extension that scans your workspace and generates a structured text file with optional file contents, using an interactive sidebar UI with checkboxes.

Features

• Interactive Sidebar — A dedicated activity bar panel showing your entire workspace as a file tree
• Checkbox Selection — Click any file or folder to toggle it in/out. Parent folders show indeterminate state when partially selected
• Smart Defaults — Common noise folders and files are automatically excluded on first load (node_modules, .git, dist, *.log, *.lock, binary files, etc.)
• Include File Contents — Toggle a global option to embed the full text of selected files in the output
• Large File Safety — Files exceeding the configured size limit are noted but not embedded (configurable, default 512 KB)
• Binary File Detection — Images, archives, compiled binaries, fonts etc. are always skipped for content inclusion
• Async Performance — All scanning and generation is non-blocking; large projects stay responsive
• Lazy Loading — Excluded directories are only scanned when you expand them, keeping startup fast

Installation & Running

Prerequisites

• Node.js v18 or later
• VS Code v1.85 or later

Setup

cd project-structure-finder
npm install
npm run compile        # one-time build
# OR
npm run watch          # continuous compilation (recommended during development)

Launch in Extension Development Host

1. Open the project folder in VS Code
2. Press F5 (or go to the Run and Debug view and click the Start Debugging play button) — this opens a new VS Code window with the extension loaded.
   • Alternative: Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) and run "Debug: Start Debugging".
3. The Project Structure icon appears in the Activity Bar on the left

Usage

Sidebar Panel

Generating the File

Click the $(file-code) Generate button in the sidebar toolbar, or run:

Ctrl+Shift+P → "Project Structure: Generate Project Structure File"

You will be prompted for an output file name (default: project-structure.txt). The file is written to the workspace root.

Output Format

================================================================================
  PROJECT STRUCTURE: my-project
  Generated: 2024-01-15T10:30:00.000Z
  File Contents: Included
================================================================================

📁 DIRECTORY TREE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
my-project/
├── 📁 src/
│   ├── 📄 extension.ts
│   ├── 📄 types.ts
│   └── 📄 utils.ts
├── 📄 package.json
└── 📄 README.md

================================================================================
  FILE CONTENTS
================================================================================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
📄 src/extension.ts
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
import * as vscode from 'vscode';
// ... file content here ...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
📄 package.json
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
{
  "name": "my-project",
  ...
}

================================================================================
  SUMMARY
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Folders:              3
  Total Files:          5
  Included Files:       5
  Skipped (excluded):   0
  Skipped (too large):  0
  Skipped (binary):     0
================================================================================

Configuration

All settings are under File > Preferences > Settings → search Project Structure:

Default Excluded Folders

node_modules, .git, .svn, .hg, dist, build, out, .next, .nuxt, coverage, .nyc_output, venv, .venv, env, .env, __pycache__, .pytest_cache, .mypy_cache, logs, .DS_Store, .idea, .vs, .gradle, target, bin, obj, .cache, .parcel-cache, .turbo, .vercel, .output

Default Excluded File Patterns

*.log, *.lock, package-lock.json, yarn.lock, pnpm-lock.yaml, *.min.js, *.min.css, *.map, *.pyc, *.class, *.exe, *.dll, *.png, *.jpg, *.gif, *.svg, *.pdf, *.zip, *.woff, *.woff2, *.ttf … and more

Packaging for the Marketplace

npm install -g @vscode/vsce
vsce package
# Produces: project-structure-finder-1.0.0.vsix

Install locally:

code --install-extension project-structure-finder-1.0.0.vsix

Publish to Marketplace:

vsce publish

Note: You need a Personal Access Token from Azure DevOps and a publisher account.

Project Structure

project-structure-finder/
├── src/
│   ├── extension.ts          # Activation, command registration, lifecycle
│   ├── treeDataProvider.ts   # VS Code TreeDataProvider (sidebar rendering)
│   ├── stateManager.ts       # Checkbox state, toggles, global flags
│   ├── fileSystemScanner.ts  # Async directory traversal & pattern matching
│   ├── outputGenerator.ts    # Text file builder (tree + file contents)
│   ├── types.ts              # Shared TypeScript interfaces & enums
│   └── constants.ts          # Command IDs, config keys, binary extensions
├── media/
│   └── icon.svg              # Activity bar icon
├── .vscode/
│   ├── launch.json           # F5 debug configuration
│   └── tasks.json            # Background TypeScript watch task
├── package.json              # Extension manifest & contributions
├── tsconfig.json             # TypeScript compiler settings
├── .eslintrc.json            # Linting rules
├── .vscodeignore             # Files excluded from VSIX package
└── README.md

Architecture

extension.ts (activate)
    │
    ├── StateManager          ← single source of truth for tree state
    │     ├── rootNodes[]     ← FileSystemNode tree
    │     ├── includeContents ← global toggle
    │     └── onStateChanged  ← EventEmitter
    │
    ├── ProjectStructureTreeProvider  ← reads StateManager, drives TreeView
    │
    ├── fileSystemScanner     ← pure async fs logic, no VS Code deps
    │
    └── outputGenerator       ← pure file writer, no VS Code deps

License

MIT