TabPilot - Your Ultimate VS Code Tab Organizer

Are your VS Code tabs a chaotic mess? Do you spend precious time searching for the right file among dozens of open tabs?

TabPilot is here to bring order to your workspace! This powerful and intuitive VS Code extension empowers you to effortlessly sort and manage your open tabs, boosting your productivity and keeping your coding environment pristine.

Key Features

TabPilot offers a comprehensive suite of sorting options to fit your workflow:

• Sort by Creation Date: Arrange tabs based on when they were opened. For untitled documents, this reflects their initial creation time in the current session.

• Sort Alphabetically: Keep your tabs neatly organized by file name or untitled document label for quick visual scanning.

• Sort by Last Update Date: Prioritize recently saved modified files. For untitled (unsaved) documents, this reflects their last in-memory modification time.*

• Sort by Path Location: Group related files together by their directory structure, perfect for large projects.

• Reverse Order: Instantly flip the current sorting order for flexible viewing.

• Revert to Original State: Accidentally sorted your tabs? No worries! Instantly restore them to their original, unsorted arrangement from the current session.

• Automatic Sorting: Set it and forget it! Configure TabPilot to automatically sort your tabs whenever a new tab is opened, maintaining order without manual intervention.

  Note:* Due to VS Code API limitations, this feature sorts saved files by their last modification time on disk, which updates only when changes are saved. In-memory unsaved changes for saved files are not reflected in this sort order.

Installation

1. Launch VS Code.
2. Go to the Extensions view by clicking on the Square icon on the Sidebar or pressing Ctrl+Shift+X.
3. Search for "TabPilot".
4. Click "Install".

Or

1. Via VS Code Marketplace:
   https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=imserrano.tabpilot

2. Manually:
   Download the .vsix file from the repository and install it in VS Code by selecting Extensions → ... → Install from VSIX....

How to Activate & Use

TabPilot commands are easily accessible via the VS Code Command Palette:

1. Open the Command Palette by pressing Ctrl+Shift+P (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+P (macOS).
2. Type "TabPilot" to see all available commands:
   • TabPilot: Sort Tabs by Creation Date
   • TabPilot: Sort Tabs Alphabetically
   • TabPilot: Sort Tabs by Last Update
   • TabPilot: Sort Tabs by Path
   • TabPilot: Reverse Order
   • TabPilot: Revert to Original Order
3. Select the desired sorting command to instantly organize your tabs.

Important Note on Special Tabs:

Due to limitations in the VS Code API, special tabs such as the "Welcome" page, "Settings" UI, and other non-text editor tabs (e.g., Extensions view, Debug Console, Git views) cannot be programmatically moved or reordered by TabPilot. These tabs will remain in their original positions, and TabPilot will only sort the regular file tabs around them.

Extension Settings

TabPilot provides flexible settings to customize its behavior to your preferences:

1. Open VS Code Settings: File > Preferences > Settings (Windows/Linux) or Code > Preferences > Settings (macOS).
2. Search for "TabPilot" in the search bar.

Here are the available settings:

• tabpilot.autoSort.enabled

  • Type: boolean
  • Default: false
  • Description: Enable or disable automatic tab sorting. When enabled, tabs will be sorted automatically based on the chosen method whenever a new tab is opened.

• tabpilot.autoSort.method

  • Type: string
  • Default: alphabetical
  • Enum: creationDate, alphabetical, lastUpdate, path
  • Description: Choose the default sorting method for automatic tab organization. This setting is only active when tabpilot.autoSort.enabled is set to true.

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