Why JB Search?

If you are used to JetBrains IDEs, searching across a project in VS Code can feel unfamiliar. JB Search brings the floating Find/Replace workflow to VS Code: refine a query, inspect matching code, and navigate results without losing your place. The dialog follows your VS Code theme, while the results panel opens files in the regular editor for editing, language support, and Undo.

Demo

Floating Search Dialog

Search, filter files, and switch scopes in a movable, resizable dialog.

Native VS Code Results

Inspect highlighted matches, then open the native Find panel to work through results.

Replace Workflow

Preview a replacement, apply it, and use the editor's Undo to restore your changes.

Features

• Floating Find/Replace dialog — a compact, movable and resizable dialog with colors and fonts from your active VS Code theme.
• Live search preview — matching snippets and a read-only code preview with TextMate syntax highlighting and highlighted occurrences.
• Native VS Code results panel — a folder/file/result tree with your client's file icons. Selecting a result opens the source in the active central editor group.
• Regex and multiline search — case and whole-word matching, regular expressions, multiline queries, file masks, and include/exclude filters.
• Named search scopes — Project, Folder, Directory, Open Editors, and custom scopes. Open Editors includes unsaved and untitled text buffers.
• Find from Explorer — start a search in a folder from its context menu.
• Safe Replace & Undo — replacements use VS Code edits and stay unsaved until you save them. Stale, unchecked, or incomplete results block unsafe replacements.
• Remote SSH support — searches run on the workspace host; an automatically installed client component supplies your local theme rules and TextMate grammars for the dialog preview.

Installation

Install JB Search from the Visual Studio Marketplace.

Or search for JB Search in the VS Code Extensions view (Cmd+Shift+X / Ctrl+Shift+X).

For development, source registration, or a locally built VSIX, see CONTRIBUTING.md.

Usage

Use Cmd on macOS and Ctrl on Windows/Linux:

The Command Palette also provides JB Search: Find in Files and JB Search: Replace in Files. Use Tab / Shift+Tab to move between dialog controls and Space to toggle an option. Double-click a result, or press Enter while the results list has focus, to open the source at the matching range and close the dialog.

To search inside a specific folder, right-click it in Explorer and choose JB Search: Find in Files…. The dialog selects Directory and shows the folder path, keeping your query, file masks, and options. The search includes subfolders. This works on workspace roots and nested folders, including when several resources are selected: it searches the folder where you opened the context menu. Saved searches in the Find panel remain independent.

Remote SSH is supported. Install JB Search in the remote window; the required client component is installed automatically when needed. Your theme does not need to be installed on the server.

Use Open in Find Panel to keep a search. Results have a stable order and form a snapshot: edits trigger revalidation, and occurrences that no longer match are marked INVALID. Undo can restore them. Rerun Search rebuilds the snapshot and discovers new matches. The Edit Search gear reopens that search's parameters; Keep as a new search creates an independent session.

Configuration

Configure limits and named scopes in Settings → JB Search. For example:

{
  "jbsearch.scopes": [
    {
      "name": "Sources",
      "include": ["src/**"],
      "exclude": ["**/generated/**"]
    }
  ],
  "jbsearch.search.maxResults": 5000
}

File masks accept patterns such as *.js;*.ts, src/**, and **/*.{js,ts}.

Find/Replace shortcuts are enabled by default. Set jbsearch.keybindings.overrideFindInFiles to false to disable both defaults, or customize them in Keyboard Shortcuts. The JB Search setting includes links to each command. A remapped default keeps its when condition unless you remove it, so the setting continues to control that binding.

Requirements & limitations

• Desktop VS Code 1.143.1+ and a filesystem workspace are required. VS Code for the Web and virtual workspaces are unsupported.
• The floating dialog uses an internal VS Code command. Future compatibility is not guaranteed. workbench.editor.useModal must not be off; some is sufficient.
• The dialog's code preview is read-only and uses TextMate grammars. It does not embed semantic tokens or full editor features. Files opened from the Find panel use the regular editable VS Code editor and its language extensions.
• Regex uses ECMAScript semantics. Expressions written for Java or PCRE2 may need changes. Regex replacement supports capture groups, named groups, and newline/tab escapes; with Regex disabled, replacement text is literal.
• File search supports UTF-8. Binary, UTF-16, oversized, and inaccessible files are reported as skipped; symlinks are not followed. Replace All requires a complete result set. Narrow the scope or adjust limits when a search is incomplete.
• Saved searches live in memory and are cleared when the extension host restarts. Changes to closed files outside the editor may require Rerun Search to rebuild result positions.
• macOS and Linux have been tested. Windows is expected to work but has not yet been verified. Automated GUI checks cover Linux/X11.
• Recorded Remote SSH checks use Linux loopback. Connections between separate physical machines, WSL, Dev Containers, and Wayland remain unverified.

See the implementation limits, Find/Replace test matrix, and native Find panel validation for details.

Privacy

JB Search runs searches in the workspace extension host. With Remote SSH, that host is your remote server. It does not send search queries or file contents to external search services and includes no extension telemetry or analytics.

The Remote client component exchanges theme rules and TextMate grammar resources through VS Code commands. It does not receive your search queries or source files. Search history is kept in memory rather than written to disk. The search executable is bundled with the extension and is not downloaded when you run a search.

Roadmap

Planned areas of development:

• More search scopes.
• Improved search history.
• Better navigation through results.
• Broader platform support and validation.
• Search and replace UX improvements.

These are development directions; specific features, priorities, and timing are subject to planning. Suggest ideas and react to existing requests in GitHub Issues.

Release readiness and outstanding platform checks are tracked in the release checklist.

Contributing

Bug reports, reproducible examples, platform testing, and pull requests are welcome. Start with CONTRIBUTING.md. Development happens in dev; master is the stable branch.

Please follow the Code of Conduct. To report an undisclosed vulnerability privately, see the Security Policy.

Write and maintain all repository content in English, including documentation, specifications, development and validation reports, code comments, and future sections and examples. Architecture decisions live in ADR, while requirements and changes are tracked with OpenSpec.

Extension artwork: PNG icon and SVG source.

Support development

If JB Search makes your daily work easier, you can support its development with a donation via Tribute.

You can also star the repository, share JB Search with other developers, report reproducible bugs, or help test it on your platform. Feedback about the search and replacement workflow is always welcome.

License

MIT © 2026 idfedorov09.