PaneCrew

A grid of live terminal panes across a multi-root VS Code workspace, paired with a file explorer that automatically follows whichever pane currently has focus.

The explorer follows whichever pane has focus — click into the "dashboard" project and it switches automatically:

What it does

PaneCrew turns VS Code into a grid of simultaneously visible terminal panes — one per project — instead of a tab-switcher. Each pane is anchored to a workspace folder in a multi-root workspace, arranged via VS Code's own editor-group layout. A dedicated PaneCrew explorer in the activity bar shows exactly one project's file tree at a time — whichever project owns the terminal or editor tab you're currently focused on, switching automatically as your focus moves — PaneCrew's signature feature, and (per this project's own research) a gap even VS Code's built-in Explorer doesn't close on its own.

Tool-agnostic by design: PaneCrew hosts any CLI tool in its terminals — shells, Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, or anything else — it makes no assumptions about what's running inside a pane.

Install

From the Marketplace: search for "PaneCrew" in the Extensions view, or run:

ext install silvio-lindstedt.panecrew

From a .vsix file:

code --install-extension panecrew-0.1.2.vsix

Or via the Extensions view: ··· menu → "Install from VSIX…".

Features

• Terminal grid: PaneCrew: Open Project Grid… and PaneCrew: Add Folder to Grid… add a workspace folder and give it its own terminal, arranged automatically via VS Code's editor-group layout (single, split, 2×2 quad, three- and four-across rows, and 2-over-1/1-over-2 layouts).
• Focus-following explorer: switch terminals or editor tabs and the PaneCrew explorer (activity bar → PaneCrew icon) reveals the owning project automatically.
• Git status decorations: modified/added/untracked/deleted files and folders are badged and colored in the explorer, based on git status per workspace-folder root.
• Search in folder: right-click a folder in the PaneCrew explorer → "PaneCrew: Search in Folder…" to open VS Code's native Find in Files scoped to that folder.
• Session persistence: reopening a workspace restores its last grid layout and pane-to-folder assignments automatically.
• Grid presets: PaneCrew: Save Current Grid as Preset… / PaneCrew: Load Grid Preset… — named layouts, reusable across workspaces.
• Two color themes: "PaneCrew Dark" and "PaneCrew Light", offered once on first activation (opt-in, never applied silently) and available anytime via PaneCrew: Set PaneCrew Theme….
• Terminal links: URLs and absolute file paths printed in a terminal become clickable.
• Snippets: store reusable command snippets per-workspace (.vscode/panecrew-snippets.json) or globally, and insert one into the active terminal via PaneCrew: Insert Snippet… (command palette).
• Compact Look: PaneCrew: Apply Compact Look hides secondary chrome (status bar, minimap by default), collapses the window menu bar, clears the title bar's layout-picker icons and the Copilot sign-in / "Open in Agents Window" icons, closes the Chat/Copilot secondary side bar, and moves the activity bar above the explorer to make room for more panes. The activity bar always stays reachable — Compact Look never fully hides it, only relocates it. Restore the previous look with PaneCrew: Restore Default VS Code Look.
• Onboarding walkthrough: "Get started with PaneCrew" in the Welcome view walks through opening a grid, touring the explorer, applying the theme, and Compact Look.

Settings

Compact Look never fully hides the activity bar, regardless of settings — it relocates to a row above the explorer instead of being hidden, by design.

Known limitations

• No per-pane resource usage or process control: PaneCrew doesn't track or suspend a pane's underlying OS process tree — VS Code extensions don't have that level of access to a terminal's processes.
• No cross-window pane drag: dragging a pane out into its own OS window isn't possible — no VS Code extension API exposes that. VS Code's own native tab drag between windows is the closest equivalent when terminals are hosted as editor tabs.
• Snippet insertion is a quick pick, not an in-terminal popup: PaneCrew: Insert Snippet… opens a command-palette quick pick rather than an overlay inside the terminal itself — extensions can't render into a terminal's live content.

FAQ

Does it work on Windows and Linux, or just macOS? Any OS VS Code itself runs on — PaneCrew has no native, platform-specific code.

Does it work with a single-folder workspace, or do I need multi-root? The grid needs at least one workspace folder to anchor a pane to; add more folders (File: Add Folder to Workspace…) to grid multiple projects side by side. A single-folder workspace works too — you just get a one-pane grid.

Is it free? Yes — MIT-licensed and free on the Marketplace, no paid tier.

Which CLI tools does it support? Any of them. PaneCrew's terminals are plain VS Code terminals — Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, a plain shell, or anything else that runs in a terminal.

Where do I report a bug or ask a question? GitHub Issues — pick the "Bug report" or "Question" template.

Development

pnpm install
pnpm --filter panecrew --dir apps/extension run compile

• pnpm --filter panecrew --dir apps/extension run watch — incremental build.

• pnpm --filter panecrew --dir apps/extension run test:unit — vitest unit tests for every pure-logic module (grid state, terminal link detection, snippet matching, onboarding state, session state, git status parsing, the grid→layout translation).

• pnpm --filter panecrew --dir apps/extension run test:integration — a @vscode/test-electron smoke test that activates the extension inside a real VS Code host and asserts commands/views are registered.

• Press F5 in VS Code (with apps/extension open) to launch an Extension Development Host.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.