Trim Indent

VS Code extension that removes common leading whitespace from the selected text, preserving relative indentation.

VS Code has built-in commands to indent and outdent lines, but no command to trim the common leading whitespace from a selection. This has been an open request since 2018. Trim Indent fills that gap.

🚀 Usage

1. Select indented text in the editor
2. Open the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P / Ctrl+Shift+P)
3. Run one of the commands below

Trim Indent

Replaces the selection in-place with the trimmed text.

Before

        if (isReady) {
          console.log("Start");
          if (hasWarnings) {
            console.warn("Warnings detected");
          }
        }

After

if (isReady) {
  console.log("Start");
  if (hasWarnings) {
    console.warn("Warnings detected");
  }
}

Behavior

• Finds the minimum leading whitespace shared by all non-empty lines
• Removes exactly that amount from each line
• Blank and whitespace-only lines are ignored when computing the common indent
• Works with both spaces and tabs
• If nothing is selected, shows a friendly message

Trim Indent and Copy

Applies the same trimming logic as Trim Indent but copies the result to the clipboard instead of replacing the selection. The editor is left unchanged. Useful for pasting dedented code into documentation, chat, or another file.

📦 Installation

VS Code / Cursor

Install from the VS Code Marketplace, or run:

ext install prberg.trim-indent

Or search for "Trim Indent" in the Extensions sidebar.

Open VSX

Available on Open VSX Registry.

Custom Keybinding

By default, the commands are available through the Command Palette. To bind Trim Indent and Copy to a keyboard shortcut:

1. Open the Keyboard Shortcuts editor (Cmd+K Cmd+S on macOS, Ctrl+K Ctrl+S on Windows/Linux)
2. Click the Open Keyboard Shortcuts (JSON) icon in the top-right corner
3. Add the following entry to keybindings.json:

{
  "key": "ctrl+shift+c",
  "command": "extension.copyTrimmed",
  "when": "editorTextFocus && editorHasSelection"
}

This overrides the default copy shortcut with a trim-and-copy when text is selected. The regular Ctrl+C / Cmd+C still works for copying without trimming.

🛠️ Development

bun install
just build    # Bundle with esbuild
just test     # Run tests
just watch    # Watch mode
just package  # Build VSIX

Press F5 in VS Code to launch the Extension Development Host.

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License — see the LICENSE file for details.