C# Solution Explorer

A lightweight Solution Explorer for C# projects in VS Code — and in Open VSX-compatible editors such as VSCodium.

Vision

The long-term goal is a VS Code extension that gives C# (and Razor) developers everything they need to write and debug their code, without depending on Microsoft-proprietary-only extensions (like C# Dev Kit) that aren't available on Open VSX. That full scope — language features, IntelliSense, debugging — is not part of this version.

Features

• Dedicated Activity Bar view showing Solution → Solution Folders → Projects → Folders/Files.
• Parses .sln and .slnx solution files, including Solution Folder nesting.
• Falls back to a loose top-level .csproj when no solution file is found.
• Folders and files are read directly from disk (no MSBuild evaluation), excluding bin, obj, node_modules, and hidden directories.
• Per-project Dependencies tree grouped into Visual Studio-style categories (Frameworks, Analyzers, Packages, Projects), with full NuGet and project-reference management — see Dependencies.
• File nesting groups related files under a parent, like Visual Studio: appsettings.*.json under appsettings.json, .xaml.cs under .xaml, .Designer.cs/.cs under .resx, *.min.css/*.min.js under their source, and .razor companions under the component. Toggle with csharpSolutionExplorer.fileNesting.enabled.
• Manual refresh button and automatic refresh via a file system watcher.
• Click a file to open it in the editor.
• Auto-sync: the active editor's file is selected (and its parents expanded) in the tree automatically. Toggle with csharpSolutionExplorer.autoReveal, or reveal on demand from an editor tab's context menu / the Command Palette (Show in Solution Explorer).
• Copy / Cut / Paste files and folders between folders and projects, from the context menu or with Ctrl/Cmd+C / X / V while the view is focused.

Context menu commands

• New Item submenu: prompts for a name and creates the file in the target folder. The namespace is derived automatically from the project name and folder path. All templates are configurable — see Settings below.
• New Razor Component…: enforces the Blazor convention that component names start with an uppercase letter.
• New File…: accepts any filename with extension and creates an empty file.
• Rename: updates the solution file entry and root folder when renaming a project or Solution Folder.
• Delete: moves files and folders to trash; removes the project or Solution Folder entry from the solution file.
• Remove from Solution: removes the project reference from the solution file without deleting files on disk.
• New Project…: scaffolds a new project from a dotnet new template (Console, Class Library, Web API, Blazor, test projects, and more), creates it in a folder next to the solution, and registers it in the .sln/.slnx file.
• Build / Rebuild / Run / Test / Restore / Clean: runs the matching dotnet command in a dedicated VS Code terminal. Build, Rebuild, Test, Restore, and Clean work on both project and solution nodes; Run is project-only. Rebuild uses dotnet build --no-incremental to force a full recompile.
• Copy / Cut / Paste: copies or moves files and folders on disk. Paste targets a folder or a project's root. Copy into a location that already has a file of that name appends a … copy suffix instead of overwriting; Cut moves the item and clears the clipboard.
• Open in Terminal: opens an integrated terminal whose working directory is the solution folder, the project root, or the selected folder.
• Reveal in Finder / File Explorer: opens the selected item in the operating system's file manager (Finder on macOS, File Explorer on Windows, the default file manager on Linux). The menu label matches your platform.
• Show in Solution Explorer: reveals and selects a file in the tree — from the editor tab's context menu or the Command Palette.
• Open in Editor: opens the raw .sln/.slnx (on a solution) or .csproj (on a project) file in the editor. The project's own .csproj is not listed as a child file — use this command to open it.

Dependencies

Each project has a Dependencies node that mirrors Visual Studio, grouping references into Frameworks, Analyzers, Packages, and Projects (empty categories are hidden). It is resolved from project.assets.json after a restore — so it reflects exactly what was restored, including transitive packages — and falls back to reading the .csproj directly when no restore has run.

• NuGet packages: Add Package… opens a Quick Pick that searches nuget.org live as you type, followed by a version pick. Direct packages offer Update Package… (pick any version) and Remove Package. All writes go through the dotnet CLI, so versions resolve and a restore keeps the tree in sync.
• Outdated packages: when csharpSolutionExplorer.nuget.checkForUpdates is enabled (default), expanding the Packages node checks nuget.org for newer stable versions. Outdated direct packages are highlighted as installed → latest with an Update to Latest Version one-click action. Results are cached for the session.
• Project references: Add Project Reference… lets you select one or more other projects to reference; Remove drops a direct reference. Each reference can be expanded to reveal the referenced project's own references — fully recursive, dimmed, with cycle protection.

Drag and drop

Projects can be dragged between Solution Folders (or to the solution root) directly in the tree.

Settings

All template settings support the following variables:

Clearing a template setting causes an error to be shown instead of creating the file, which lets you disable individual item types. The default values can be restored with the reset icon in VS Code Settings.

The gear icon in the view title opens the extension settings directly.

Requirements

• VS Code ≥ 1.85 (or a compatible Open VSX editor).
• .NET CLI (dotnet) must be on your PATH for the Build, Rebuild, Run, Test, Restore, Clean, New Project, and NuGet package commands (Add/Update/Remove Package).
• Internet access to nuget.org is needed for the package search and the outdated-package check (both can be ignored if you only manage references offline).

Development

npm install

Press F5 in VS Code to launch the Extension Development Host with the sample solution (samples/CSharpSolutionExplorer.Sample) already open.

npm run lint
npm run check-types
npm test

License

MIT