Pin Context for VS Code

Pin Context helps developers switch tasks without losing focus: save pinned tabs as contexts, restore them instantly, and keep branch-based workflows organized automatically.

🇷🇺 Русский: расширение полностью переведено на русский язык. Переключите VS Code на русский — интерфейс Pin Context тоже переключится на русский.

💡 Why Developers Use It

• ⚡ Switch tasks fast: jump from feature work to bugfix or review and restore the right files in one action.
• 🧹 Reduce tab chaos: keep each task in a clean, named context instead of one giant mixed tab set.
• 🌿 Stay in flow with git: branch contexts are enabled by default, so context changes follow your branch changes.
• 🕘 Recover your rhythm: timeline history helps you return to what you worked on recently.
• ⌨️ Work keyboard-first: core actions are optimized for command palette and shortcuts.

🧩 What You Get

• 🔖 Pin, unpin, or toggle the current file; pin or unpin all open tabs; pin files by pattern.
• 🗂️ Manual contexts: create, switch, rename, delete.
• 🌿 Git contexts: auto-maintained per branch (enabled by default).
• 🕘 Context timeline (Today, Yesterday, Older).
• 📁 Sidebar workflow: pinned files + contexts + recent contexts.
• 🖱️ Drag-and-drop from Explorer into pinned view.
• 🎯 First-run onboarding, contextual empty states, and lightweight nudges.
• 📦 Working sets: each context remembers editor cursors, scroll positions, open tabs, and the editor group layout.
• 💾 Repository contexts: save and share contexts via .vscode/pin-contexts.json.
• 📤 Export / Import: save contexts to a JSON file or load from one.
• 🖱️ Explorer context menu: a context-menu action to pin or unpin the selected file directly from Explorer.
• 🤖 AI agent integration: expose context and pinned-file tools to VS Code Chat and other MCP-compatible agents, with approval for state-changing actions.

🚀 Quick Start (1 Minute)

1. Open and pin a few files.
2. Run Pin Context: Create Context.
3. Run Pin Context: Switch Context.
4. Create or switch a Git branch and observe branch-aware contexts.

🧠 Typical Developer Scenarios

• 🚀 Feature development: keep frontend, backend, and tests in one context per feature.
• 🔍 PR review: save review tabs and return later exactly where you stopped.
• 🚨 Incident/debug mode: isolate logs, diagnostics, and hotfix files in a dedicated context.
• 🧱 Multi-repo workspace: keep branch/task context predictable across folders.
• 👥 Team sharing: share context definitions via .vscode/pin-contexts.json in the repository.

AI Agent Integration

Pin Context exposes a shared agent API and MCP tools for compatible AI agents. Agents can inspect the active context and pinned files, list/switch contexts, and pin or unpin workspace files. Read operations are non-mutating; changes require user approval. See AI_AGENT_INTEGRATION.md for Claude Code, Codex, and other MCP client setup, tools, and security details.

Public API Compatibility

api.d.ts and the PinContextAgentApi returned by extension activation are intended for integrations maintained by other extensions and AI-agent clients. Starting with 1.0.0, this API is a stable compatibility contract: patch releases fix bugs without breaking the API, minor releases may add backwards-compatible methods, fields, and tools, and breaking changes require a major release. The same compatibility policy applies to existing MCP tool names, input schemas, and result semantics.

The extension activates automatically after VS Code finishes starting (onStartupFinished) to restore context state and initialize Git and agent integrations. No manual activation command is required.

Commands

• Pin Context: Pin Current File
• Pin Context: Unpin Current File
• Pin Context: Toggle Pin for Current File
• Pin Context: Pin All Open Tabs
• Pin Context: Unpin All Open Tabs
• Pin Context: Pin Files by Pattern
• Pin Context: Create Context
• Pin Context: Switch Context
• Pin Context: Rename Context
• Pin Context: Delete Context
• Pin Context: Save Current Pins to Context
• Pin Context: Open Context Timeline
• Pin Context: Quick Open Pinned File
• Pin Context: Export Contexts
• Pin Context: Import Contexts
• Pin Context: Refresh Pinned Files View
• Pin Context: Toggle View Mode (Tree/List)
• Pin Context: Copy MCP Client Configuration

Default Shortcuts

Since 0.0.6, the default shortcuts on Windows/Linux no longer override built-in VS Code shortcuts (Ctrl+Shift+P is the Command Palette). If Ctrl+Alt+letter types special characters on your keyboard layout (AltGr), rebind the commands in Keyboard Shortcuts.

Main Settings

Core

• pin-context.viewMode: tree or list
• pin-context.confirmBeforeUnpinAll: ask before unpinning all
• pin-context.persistenceScope: globalState or workspaceState (default: workspaceState)
• pin-context.restoreBehavior: keepInTree or reopenAndPin
• pin-context.restoreReopenLimit: reopen limit for reopenAndPin

Contexts

• pin-context.contexts.autoGitContexts (default: true)
• pin-context.contexts.autoSwitchOnGitBranchChange (default: true)
• pin-context.contexts.restoreLastContext (default: false)
• pin-context.contexts.timelineEnabled (default: true)
• pin-context.contexts.maxTimelineEntries (default: 100)
• pin-context.contexts.persistenceScope: globalState or workspaceState (default: workspaceState)
• pin-context.contexts.repoContextsFile: enable repository-level contexts (default: true)

Working Sets

• pin-context.contexts.captureEditorState: save cursor position and scroll (default: true)
• pin-context.contexts.captureOpenTabs: save open tabs (default: false)

Security

See SECURITY.md for private vulnerability-reporting instructions. Do not share copied MCP bridge configuration or its bearer token: the configuration grants access to the local Pin Context agent bridge while that VS Code workspace is running.

Troubleshooting

• Open the Pin Context output channel (View > Output) for logs.
• Enable pin-context.debug for verbose logs.
• Git contexts require Git to be available on PATH and the workspace to be trusted.

Performance

• pin-context.batchSize
• pin-context.findFilesMaxResults
• pin-context.debug

Docs and Local Dev

• Docs site: docs/index.html
• Local docs preview: npm run docs:serve -> http://localhost:4173
• Build: npm run compile
• Lint: npm run lint
• Pre-commit checks: npm run precommit:check

💰 Support the Project

Your support helps keep the project actively maintained and improved.

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