Important Files

A VS Code extension that lets you pin the most important files in your project to a dedicated sidebar panel — with groups, comments, and last-accessed sorting. Perfect for onboarding teammates or keeping your own workflow focused.

Features

• Sidebar panel — a dedicated Activity Bar icon and panel showing your pinned files
• Add via context menu — right-click any file in the Explorer → Add to Important Files
• Groups — organise files into named, collapsible groups (files can appear in multiple groups)
• Ungrouped section — a "General" catch-all for files not assigned to a group
• Sort by Last Accessed or Name — per-panel toolbar buttons and title-bar commands
• Comments — attach a note to each file explaining why it matters; expand the card to read it
• Team sharing — the list is stored in .important-files.json at the project root and is meant to be committed to git so teammates see the same list
• Auto-refresh — the panel updates automatically when .important-files.json is changed externally (e.g. after a git pull)
• Rename tracking — when you rename/move a file through VS Code, the stored path is updated automatically

Usage

Adding files

Right-click a file (or a multi-selection of files) in the Explorer:

Add to Important Files

A quick-pick will ask you to choose a destination:

• General (no group) — adds to the top-level ungrouped section
• Any existing group
• Create new group… — prompts for a group name, then adds the file there

Opening files

Click a file name in the panel. The file opens in the editor and moves to the top of the "last accessed" sort order.

Comments

Hover over a file card to reveal the action buttons; click the comment icon (or expand button) to toggle the comment area. Click Edit comment (or the pencil icon) to edit the comment via a VS Code input box.

Groups

Use the New Group button (folder icon) in the panel title bar, or choose Create new group… when adding a file.

• Rename — click the pencil icon in the group header
• Delete — click the trash icon in the group header (files are removed from the group, not from disk)
• Collapse/Expand — click anywhere on the group header

Sorting

Use the Recent and Name buttons in the panel toolbar, or the commands in the title bar:

Storage format

The list is stored in .important-files.json at the root of your workspace. Committing this file lets teammates see your curated list immediately after cloning.

{
  "version": 1,
  "sortBy": "lastAccessed",
  "ungrouped": [
    {
      "id": "abc123",
      "path": "src/main.ts",
      "comment": "Entry point — start here",
      "lastAccessed": "2026-03-28T10:00:00.000Z",
      "addedAt": "2026-03-28T09:00:00.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "groups": [
    {
      "id": "def456",
      "name": "Backend",
      "collapsed": false,
      "items": [
        {
          "id": "ghi789",
          "path": "src/server.ts",
          "comment": "Express server — port 3000",
          "lastAccessed": "2026-03-28T10:05:00.000Z",
          "addedAt": "2026-03-28T09:00:00.000Z"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Commands

All commands are accessible from the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) under the Important Files: prefix.

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build (extension + webview bundle)
npm run build

# Watch mode (rebuild on change)
npm run watch

Press F5 in VS Code to launch an Extension Development Host with the extension loaded.

License

MIT