Work Universe

Group several project folders (for example backend and frontend) into a universe and work on one at a time in a single VS Code window. The explorer, search, source control and open tabs all follow the active workspace. It feels like several VS Code windows living in one window.

Features

• One activity bar panel, with no sections:
  • Tabs on top, one per folder. Click to switch, + to add, drag to reorder, right-click to rename, recolor or remove.
  • File tree below, like the Explorer: your file icon theme, git and problem colors, the active file revealed, keyboard navigation, multi-select, drag to move, and New/Rename (F2)/Delete from the right-click menu.
  • … menu in the panel header to open, create, rename or delete universes, and to change a universe's mode.
• In-place switching with no window reload. Each workspace remembers its own tabs (groups, pinned tabs, active tab and cursor) and gets them back when you return to it.
• Isolated search: Ctrl+Shift+F only searches the active workspace.
• Search whole universe (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F) temporarily loads every workspace so one search covers all of them.
• Status bar shows Universe › Workspace. Click it to switch.
• Quick switcher (Ctrl+Alt+W), plus Ctrl+Alt+] / Ctrl+Alt+[ for the next and previous workspace.
• Color and icon per workspace, so the title bar and status bar tell you where you are.

Separate environments or all together

Each universe has a mode. You choose it when you create the universe and can change it any time from the panel's … menu → Set Universe Mode.

Changing the mode applies immediately, without a reload. The ◈ header folder stays in both modes, so switching modes never restarts extensions.

Custom actions

Each workspace can have its own row of icon buttons between the tabs and the files. Right-click a tab and choose Set Custom Actions…. The first time, it offers to create buttons from the project's package.json scripts, using the right package manager (npm, pnpm, yarn or bun). It then opens the actions file in an editor tab, with autocomplete for every field and icon name. Save it and the buttons update.

{
  "actions": [
    { "label": "Dev",   "icon": "play",   "command": "npm run dev" },
    { "label": "Tests", "icon": "beaker", "command": "npm test", "cwd": "packages/api", "env": { "CI": "1" } },
    { "label": "Restart TS", "icon": "refresh", "vscodeCommand": "typescript.restartTsServer" }
  ]
}

• command runs in the action's own terminal (<workspace>: <label>) in the workspace folder. Pressing the button while it's still running lets you Restart it, Show its terminal or Stop it.
• vscodeCommand runs a VS Code command instead (with optional args).
• Optional: cwd (relative to the workspace), env, and color (a hex color for the icon).
• headless: true runs the command without showing its terminal. Press the button again to show, restart or stop it.
• show_status_bar: true shows the action's icon and label in the status bar while it runs. Click it to open its terminal.
• active_color (top level, "#hex" or "none") colors the icons of actions that are currently running.
• New action files start with a comment that documents every property. Colors get VS Code's color picker.
• Action files live in the extension's storage. Nothing is written into your project.
• Actions belong to the folder, not the universe: removing a project or deleting a universe keeps them, adding the folder again brings them back, and a folder in two universes shares one set. Remove All Actions deletes them.
• An action runs whatever command you give it, with your permissions. Treat an actions file like a script.

Sharing actions with the project: .vscode/work-universe.json

A project can bring its own actions in .vscode/work-universe.json (same format as above). When that file exists, it replaces your stored actions for that folder completely; nothing is merged. Delete the file and your own actions come back.

• Move Custom Actions to Project File (in the … menu or by right-clicking the action row) creates the file from your current actions and opens it. Commit it to share the buttons with your team.
• Set Custom Actions… opens the project file when there is one. Remove All Actions never deletes it.
• The file is only used when you trust the window (Workspace Trust), because whoever wrote it decides what the buttons run. Until then your stored actions are shown.

How it works

Each universe is a generated .code-workspace file kept in the extension's storage:

◈ My Product        ← fixed "anchor" folder (always empty, never searched)
backend             ← the active workspace, swapped in place

VS Code restarts every extension when the first workspace folder changes. The anchor stays at position 0, so switching only touches position 1 and nothing restarts. Your Claude chat, language servers and so on keep running.

Opening a universe from a normal window reloads the window once. Every switch after that is instant.

Known limitations

• Terminals and debug sessions are shared across workspaces. VS Code has no API to hide terminals per workspace, so every terminal stays in the list. Project terminals bring the right one to the front on switch.
• Extensions that treat workspaceFolders[0] as "the project" will see the anchor folder.
• Renaming the universe open in the current window updates the explorer header the next time the universe is opened.
• Explorer expand/collapse state per workspace is up to VS Code.