Right-click to hide files and folders from the Explorer sidebar.
Optionally exclude them from Git. Restore anytime.
Features
Hide from Explorer — Right-click any file or folder to hide it from the sidebar
Hide & Exclude from Git — Also adds the pattern to .git/info/exclude so Git ignores it locally
Multi-select — Select multiple files and hide them all at once
Restore — Click the status bar counter or run the command to restore hidden files
Persistent — Hidden files stay hidden across VS Code restarts
Mask .env Values — Automatically masks secret values in .env files, showing only the first 3 characters with the rest replaced by dots. Toggle masking with a button in the editor title bar or via the command palette
Usage
Right-click a file or folder in the Explorer
Choose Dispel: Hide from Explorer or Dispel: Hide & Exclude from Git
The file disappears from the sidebar
A status bar item shows how many files are hidden — click it to restore
Commands
Command
Description
Dispel: Hide from Explorer
Hide selected files from the Explorer sidebar
Dispel: Hide & Exclude from Git
Hide from Explorer and add to local git exclude
Dispel: Restore Hidden Files
Pick which hidden files to restore
Dispel: Restore All Hidden Files
Restore everything at once
Dispel: Toggle .env Value Masking
Show or hide masked values in .env files
How It Works
Dispel uses VS Code's files.exclude and search.exclude settings to hide files from the Explorer and search results. When you choose to exclude from Git, it writes patterns to .git/info/exclude (local to your machine, not committed).
All hidden entries are stored in workspace state, so they persist across sessions.
