FullTab Search
Project search in a full editor tab — with inline, editable results. Search your whole workspace, see matches with syntax-highlighted context, and edit them right there in the results, multi-buffer style like Zed.
Why
The sidebar search panel is cramped: a narrow column of truncated lines, with no room for context and no way to act on what you find. FullTab Search gives project search the full editor area instead — results read like code, and in edit mode they are code you can change and save without ever opening the files.
Features
Edit results inline — like Zed's multi-buffer
Toggle edit mode and every result line becomes editable:
- Press Escape to revert an uncommitted change
- Press Ctrl/Cmd+S to save all pending edits to disk
Edits go through VS Code's standard workspace edit API, so they show up as normal unsaved changes and are fully undoable.
Search
- Ripgrep-powered — fast full-workspace search
- Match case, whole word, and regex toggles
- Include / exclude filters — comma-separated glob patterns (e.g.
src/**, node_modules/**, *.lock)
- Results update as you type, with state persisted across sessions
Results that read like code
- Matches grouped by file with file icons and relative paths
- Syntax-highlighted match and context lines, using VS Code's TextMate grammars
- Breadcrumbs — the enclosing function, class, or type shown above each match
- Expandable context — reveal more lines before or after any match group
- Click any match to jump to the exact line and column in the source file
Find and replace
- Replace the current match or all matches across the workspace
- Replacements apply through workspace edits — safe and undoable
Getting started
- Install the extension
- Open it via the FullTab Search icon in the activity bar, or run FullTab Search: Open Project Search from the Command Palette
Keyboard shortcuts (inside the search panel)
| Shortcut |
Action |
F4 / Ctrl+G |
Next match |
Shift+F4 / Shift+Ctrl+G |
Previous match |
Ctrl/Cmd+S |
Save pending edits (edit mode) |
Enter / Backspace / Escape |
Split line / join lines / revert edit (edit mode) |
Settings
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
fullTabSearch.debug |
false |
Log performance metrics to the FullTab Search output channel |
Notes and limitations
- Searches the first folder of the workspace (multi-root workspaces use the first root)
- Results are capped at 10,000 matches; the status bar indicates when results are truncated
- Requires VS Code 1.85 or later
Development
Want to hack on the extension? Clone the repository — it uses devbox for Node 22 and a Makefile for common tasks:
make install # npm install
make build # compile TypeScript
make lint # type-check + biome + knip
make test # unit (Vitest) + integration (Mocha in Extension Host)
make test-ui # Selenium UI tests (needs a display; CI uses xvfb)
make package # build a .vsix
make demo-gif # re-record docs/demo.gif via a scripted UI test
Press F5 in VS Code to launch an Extension Development Host with the extension loaded.
The extension host (src/) spawns ripgrep, parses its JSON output, and applies edits via workspace edits; the webview UI (media/) renders results and talks to the host over postMessage.
License
See the repository for license information.
