Mindstash

Capture notes and ideas without leaving the IDE.

Mindstash is a lightweight VS Code extension that lets you quickly jot down thoughts, snippets, and ideas while coding—without switching apps or breaking flow. All data stays in your workspace as plain JSON.

Features

Sidebar panel

• Browse all ideas – View your captured notes with timestamps in a dedicated sidebar
• Search – Filter ideas by text
• Edit & delete – Update or remove ideas inline
• Chronological view – Ideas ordered by creation time

Quick capture popup

• Multiple ideas – Open a popup with a keyboard shortcut to type multiple ideas
• Markdown support – Use italic, bold, and code formatting
• Append mode – Add multiple ideas in one session; Ctrl+Enter / Cmd+Enter appends and keeps the popup open

Quick input

• Fast capture – Open a input with a keyboard shortcut to type an idea instantly

Local storage

• Workspace-based – Notes live in .vscode/mindstash.json inside your project
• Plain JSON – Human-readable, version-control friendly, easy to script or migrate
• No cloud – Your data never leaves your machine

Installation

From VS Code Marketplace

1. Open VS Code
2. Go to Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X / Cmd+Shift+X)
3. Search for Mindstash
4. Click Install

From VSIX

1. Download the .vsix file from the Releases page
2. Run: code --install-extension mindstash-X.X.X.vsix

From source

git clone https://github.com/CodebyAhad/mindstash.git
cd mindstash
npm install
npm run compile
# Then: Run > Run Extension (F5) or package with vsce

Usage

1. Open a workspace folder – Mindstash requires a workspace to store ideas
2. Open the sidebar – Click the Mindstash icon in the Activity Bar or use the shortcut
3. Capture an idea – Use the capture shortcut to open the popup, type, then Enter to save

Keybindings

In the capture popup:

• Enter – Save the idea and close the popup
• Ctrl+Enter / Cmd+Enter – Save the idea and keep the popup open for another
• Ctrl+Shift / Cmd+Enter – To go down to next line

In the quick input:

• Enter – Save the idea and close the quick input.
• Escape – Close the quick input.

Data format

Ideas are stored in <workspaceFolder>/.vscode/mindstash.json:

[
  {
    "id": "abc123",
    "text": "Remember to refactor the auth module",
    "createdAt": 1709827200000
  }
]

• id – Unique identifier (UUID)
• text – Idea content (supports markdown)
• createdAt – Unix timestamp in milliseconds

You can edit this file directly or use scripts to import/export data.

Requirements

• VS Code 1.75.0 or newer
• A workspace folder must be open

License

MIT – see LICENSE.md for details.