Lull noisy folders in VS Code: exclude them from the file watcher, automatically or by hand.
Huge folders that change constantly (database volumes, caches, build output) flood VS Code's file watcher with events. Explorer, Git and other extensions then slow down or hang. Lull adds such folders to files.watcherExclude for you.
Features
Manual: right-click a folder in Explorer → Lull Folder / Unlull Folder. Multi-select works.
Automatic: on startup Lull scans gitignored folders, counts their files and offers to exclude the heavy ones.
Highlight: lulled folders get a zz badge and a muted color in Explorer.
Safe rollback: Lull remembers what it added; Unlull All Folders removes only its own entries.
Commands
Command
Description
Lull: Lull Folder
Exclude the selected folder(s) from the file watcher
Lull: Unlull Folder
Remove the selected folder(s) from the exclusion
Lull: Scan Ignored Folders
Find heavy gitignored folders and pick which to exclude
Lull: Unlull All Folders
Remove every entry added by Lull
Settings
Setting
Default
Description
lull.mode
suggest
off, suggest (ask on startup) or auto (exclude without asking)
lull.threshold
5000
Minimum file count for an ignored folder to count as heavy
lull.neverExclude
node_modules, vendor, dist, build, .git
Folder names the scan never excludes
Notes
Entries are written to files.watcherExclude in workspace settings (.vscode/settings.json or the .code-workspace file). Add .vscode/settings.json to .git/info/exclude to keep it out of git.
Excluded folders are no longer watched: Explorer and open files inside them do not refresh on their own.
Auto mode shows what it excluded with an Undo button.
Only the repository root is scanned: submodules and nested repositories are not.
Only gitignored folders are scanned. Tracked sources are never touched by the automatic mode.
