Maximus
Open, browse, edit and search files of any size — even hundreds of GB — directly in VS Code, without loading them into memory.
VS Code refuses to open files larger than ~50 MB. Maximus removes this limit entirely with streaming I/O and virtual rendering: your editor stays responsive no matter how big the file is.
Features
- Instant open — A 2 GB file opens in ~3 seconds. No waiting, no memory spike.
- Full-text search — Find any needle across the entire file in seconds, with regex, case-sensitivity and whole-word options.
- Find & Replace — Replace all occurrences across the file with live progress.
- In-place editing — Click anywhere to type. Edits are stored in memory and only touch the disk when you save.
- Smart save — If your edits don't change line sizes, Maximus patches the file in place (< 50 ms). Otherwise it performs a surgical binary rewrite.
- Go to Line (
Ctrl+G) — Jump to any line/column instantly, even in a 40-million-line file.
- Syntax highlighting — 35+ languages highlighted on visible lines only — no overhead.
- Works everywhere — Linux, macOS, Windows. No native dependencies.
How to use
- Right-click any file in the Explorer
- Select Open With... then choose Maximus
- That's it — browse, search and edit as you would in any text editor
Maximus never replaces your default editor. It's always available via "Open With..." for any file.
Keyboard shortcuts
| Shortcut |
Action |
Ctrl+F |
Search |
Ctrl+H / Ctrl+Shift+F |
Search & Replace |
Ctrl+G |
Go to line |
Ctrl+S |
Save |
Ctrl+A |
Select all |
Double-click |
Select word |
Shift+Click / Shift+Arrows |
Extend selection |
Configuration
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
maximus.indexEveryNLines |
1000 |
Indexing granularity (lower = more RAM, faster line access) |
maximus.bufferLines |
20 |
Extra lines pre-loaded above/below the viewport |
maximus.searchWorkers |
auto |
Number of CPU cores used for search and indexing |
Supported languages (syntax highlighting)
JSON, YAML, TOML, XML, HTML, CSS, SQL, Markdown, JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Java, C/C++, C#, Go, Rust, Ruby, PHP, Swift, Kotlin, Scala, Lua, R, Dart, Shell scripts, Dockerfiles, Makefiles, and more.
Any file without a recognized extension is displayed as plain text with no performance cost.
Known limitations
- Encoding: UTF-8 only (for now)
- Very long lines (> 64 KB) may be visually truncated
- Line insertion/deletion is not yet supported (only content modification within existing lines)
Install
Search "Maximus" in the VS Code Extensions panel, or install from the Marketplace.
Links
