Emacs-like Quick Picker

A VS Code extension that provides Emacs-like file navigation with a path-based search interface. The search starts from the current file's directory instead of the workspace root.

🎯 Why This Extension?

VS Code's default Quick Open (Ctrl+P) always searches from the workspace root; this is hard to use in large codebases when you just want to open a file in the same directory, or when there are many files with the same name but different directories. This extension brings the intuitive file navigation experience from Emacs (C-x C-f) to VS Code.

✨ Features

• Context-aware search: Starts from the current file's directory
• File filtering: Type to filter files and directories in the current location
• File creation: Create new files directly from the search interface when no matches are found
• Smart keyboard navigation: select the desired file, drill down or up without leaving the keyboard
• Open any file in the project: does not respect vscode's ignorefile property, so it is easy to open files that cannot be opened with the quick picker (e.g. .env, or thirdparty packages in node_modules)

🚀 Usage

Basic Navigation

1. Open the extension: Ctrl+Shift+P (or Cmd+Shift+P on Mac)
2. Navigate directories: Use arrow keys to move through files and folders, or ctrl+n/ctrl+p
3. Open files: Press Enter on a file to open it
4. Create files: Type a filename that doesn't exist to see a "📄 Create 'filename'" option

🔧 Configuration

Keyboard Shortcuts

The default shortcut is Ctrl+Shift+P, but you can customize it in VS Code's keybindings:

{
  "key": "ctrl+shift+p",
  "command": "ido-file-explorer.open",
  "when": "!inQuickOpen"
}

🤝 Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature
3. Commit your changes: git commit -m 'Add amazing feature'
4. Push to the branch: git push origin feature/amazing-feature
5. Open a Pull Request

📝 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Inspired by Emacs' intuitive file navigation (C-x C-f) and "ido" enhancements

🐛 Limitations

• Performance may vary with very large directories
• Limited to single workspace folder support

📈 Roadmap

• [ ] Add file type icons
• [ ] Switch to standard quickpick for advanced searching
• [ ] Support for multiple workspace folders

Made with ❤️ for VS Code users who miss Emacs-style file navigation