Chat Zoom Controls

Quickly increase, decrease, or reset the zoom level used by AI chat views in Visual Studio Code. The extension adjusts the font sizes of regular Markdown responses and code blocks together while keeping them synchronized.

It uses the built-in chat.fontSize and chat.editor.fontSize settings, so it works with VS Code chat experiences that honor those settings, including GitHub Copilot Chat and compatible AI chat extensions.

Features

• Increase or decrease from the current effective chat font size.
• Use hard minimum and maximum limits instead of wrapping around.
• Keep code blocks at a configurable offset from regular chat text.
• Reset both font sizes with one command.
• Handle rapid repeated key presses in order.
• Show the applied values briefly in the status bar.
• Configure the step, limits, reset value, and code block offset.

Default shortcuts

The commands are also available from the Command Palette under Chat Zoom. You can replace the default shortcuts in Preferences: Open Keyboard Shortcuts.

Defaults

The initial configuration reproduces VS Code's usual one-pixel relationship between chat text and chat code blocks:

• Minimum chat size: 10
• Maximum chat size: 20
• Step: 1
• Reset chat size: 13
• Code block offset: 1 (reset code block size: 14)

Settings

Example:

{
   "chatZoomControls.minimum": 11,
   "chatZoomControls.maximum": 18,
   "chatZoomControls.step": 0.5,
   "chatZoomControls.resetValue": 13,
   "chatZoomControls.codeBlockOffset": 1
}

Installation

Visual Studio Marketplace

Install Chat Zoom Controls from the Extensions view in VS Code or run:

code --install-extension goohan.chatzoomcontrols

Install a packaged VSIX

Download a .vsix file from the repository releases and run:

code --install-extension .\chatzoomcontrols-<version>.vsix

Then run Developer: Reload Window if VS Code asks you to reload.

Simple source installation

The extension has no runtime dependencies or build step. Download or clone this repository, then copy its contents to a folder such as:

Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.vscode\extensions\goohan.chatzoomcontrols-<version>
macOS/Linux: ~/.vscode/extensions/goohan.chatzoomcontrols-<version>

Make sure package.json and extension.js are directly inside that folder, then run Developer: Reload Window.

Development

Requirements:

• Visual Studio Code 1.100 or newer
• Node.js 20 or newer

Install development dependencies and validate the extension:

npm install
npm run check
npm run package

Press F5 in VS Code to launch an Extension Development Host. Use the three Chat Zoom commands there to test changes.

Publishing to the Marketplace

1. Confirm that the publisher in package.json matches your Visual Studio Marketplace publisher.

2. Create a Marketplace Personal Access Token with the required Marketplace publishing scope.

3. Authenticate locally without committing or sharing the token:

   npx vsce login goohan
   

4. Validate and package:

   npm run check
   npm run package
   

5. Publish the current version:

   npm run publish
   

For later releases, update CHANGELOG.md, increment the version in package.json, run the checks, and publish again. Never store the Marketplace token in this repository.

How it works

Each command reads the current effective chat.fontSize, calculates the next clamped value, and updates both:

• chat.fontSize
• chat.editor.fontSize

Updates are queued inside the VS Code extension host. This avoids spawning a terminal process and prevents rapid key presses from reading stale values.

Known limitations

• VS Code does not currently expose chat-specific mouse-wheel zoom, so this extension provides commands and keyboard shortcuts instead.
• A chat extension must honor VS Code's chat.fontSize or chat.editor.fontSize settings for the change to be visible.

Alternative and historical approaches

See Métodos alternativos e históricos for a Spanish-language guide to the earlier Settings Cycler and PowerShell solutions, including their tradeoffs and complete configuration examples.

License

MIT

Credits

The icon for this extension is based on the Flaticon library: Zoom icons created by Magnific - Flaticon