fileno

A VSCode extension that assigns sequential numbers to open editor tabs and exposes the mapping as a JSON file on disk.

Motivation

File names are often long, technical, or awkward to pronounce — and voice-to-text transcription frequently mangles them. Saying "open use-callback-hook-with-debounce-ref.ts" rarely ends well.

Fileno lets you refer to open files by number instead: "file 1", "file 3".

What it does

• Numbers open tabs 1, 2, 3... left-to-right across all editor groups
• Displays the number as a badge on each tab
• Writes the mapping to ~/.fileno/<workspace>.json on every tab change
• Deletes the mapping file when VSCode closes

Claude Code integration

Add to ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md:

When I refer to a file by number (e.g. "file 1", "file 3"), first read ~/.fileno/tabs.json to get the mapping of file numbers to absolute file paths, then use the resolved path. The file is workspace-specific: derive the path by replacing "/" with "-" in the absolute workspace path and appending .json (e.g. workspace /Users/user-name/myproject → ~/.fileno/Users-user-name-myproject.json).

Installation

Search for fileno in the VS Code Extensions panel (Cmd+Shift+X) and click Install.

Or install from the command line:

code --install-extension radek-kotowski.fileno

Development

npm install       # install dependencies
npm run compile   # compile TypeScript
npm test          # run unit tests
npm run package   # build .vsix

To test in VSCode: open this folder, press F5 to launch the Extension Development Host.

Mapping format

{
  "1": "/absolute/path/to/file.ts",
  "2": "/absolute/path/to/other.py"
}