Tidy Space

Keep your workspace clutter-free: only one sidebar at a time.

Install from Visual Studio Marketplace or Open VSX Registry.

Tidy Space demo

Features

Keeps your editor neat: only one sidebar visible at a time.
Optional: also hides the panel when switching.
Almost zero config: you only control whether you want to hide the bottom panel.

Motivation

Working on a laptop means every pixel counts. I wanted to maximize my coding area while keeping sidebars accessible when needed:

Limited screen real estate: Laptop displays don't have room for multiple sidebars competing for space.
Focus on what matters: Keep the code editor front and center, with sidebars appearing only when actively used.
Distraction-free workflow: Automatically hide unused UI elements to maintain focus on your work.

The result is a cleaner, more focused development environment that adapts to your workflow rather than cluttering your screen.

Commands

Tidy Space commands

You can run these commands from the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P on a Mac, or Ctrl+Shift+P on Windows).

Description	Name	Default Mac	Default Windows
Toggle primary side bar visibility	`tidySpace.toggleSidebarVisibility`	—	—
Toggle secondary side bar visibility	`tidySpace.toggleAuxiliaryBar`	—	—

Keybinding Setup

To use this extension, you need to remap your sidebar toggle keys in VS Code.

Open Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P / Ctrl+Shift+P)
Type "Preferences: Open Keyboard Shortcuts (JSON)"
Add these keybindings:

[
  {
    "key": "cmd+b",
    "command": "tidySpace.toggleSidebarVisibility"
  },
  {
    "key": "cmd+`",
    "command": "tidySpace.toggleAuxiliaryBar"
  }
]

NOTE: Feel free to use any key bindings you're used to.

Windows users: Replace cmd with ctrl.

Now when you press Cmd+B or Cmd+`, only one sidebar will be open at a time.