A detached, movable search window with live ripgrep search across your project — file-type filters, grouped results with a whole-file preview, scoped search, and a WebStorm-style 'Search Everywhere' feel.
Installation
Launch VS Code Quick Open (Ctrl+P), paste the following command, and press enter.
Project search in a detached, movable window — the closest VS Code gets to a
WebStorm-style "Search Everywhere" panel that you open, use, and hide without
cluttering your layout.
Features
Floating window — the search opens in its own movable OS window (a VS Code
auxiliary window); park it on a second monitor and it stays alive
independently of the editor. (Falls back to a docked tab if unsupported.)
Search Everywhere modes — a Text · Files · Symbols · All bar (click or
Tab to cycle):
Text — live, streaming ripgrep search (respects .gitignore), with
regex, match case, and whole word toggles.
Files — fuzzy filename/path search.
Symbols — workspace symbols (functions, classes, …) via the language
server; jumps to the definition.
All — runs the three and shows merged, capped sections with a
"→ more in …" link into each mode.
File-type filter — a Types ▾ dropdown auto-detected from your workspace
(frequency-sorted, cached). Every type is searched by default; uncheck the ones
you don't want (uncheck all = nothing to search), with Select all /
Deselect all and custom exclude globs (e.g. dist/**).
Scope — right-click a folder in the Explorer → Better Find: Search in This
Folder; clear the scope to go back to the whole workspace.
Grouped results + syntax-highlighted preview — matches grouped by file
(collapsible), with a whole-file, scrollable preview centered on the selected
match and Prism syntax highlighting (theme-aware).
Stacked or side-by-side layout with a draggable splitter, and width-aware
result rows that keep the match in view.
Usage
Toggle the window:Ctrl+Alt+F, the $(search) Search status-bar item,
or the command Better Find: Toggle Search Window.
Type to search; ↑/↓ moves through results and updates the preview.
Enter / double-click / the Open button jumps to the file (and closes the
search). Single-click just previews.
Esc clears a non-empty query, then closes on the next press.
Settings
Setting
Default
Meaning
betterFind.openInFloatingWindow
true
Pop into its own OS window. Off = docked editor tab.
betterFind.maxResults
300
Cap on matches per search.
betterFind.typeCacheDays
7
Days before the detected file-type list auto-rescans.
betterFind.ripgrepPath
""
Absolute path to rg. Empty = auto-detect, then PATH.
Requirements & notes
VS Code 1.85+ (for floating editor windows). ripgrep (rg) is used for
search: it's auto-detected from common install paths, then falls back to the copy
bundled with VS Code itself — so no separate install is required (set
betterFind.ripgrepPath to override).
Preview syntax highlighting is per-line, so constructs spanning multiple lines
(e.g. block comments) may not carry their highlighting across line breaks.
