🔭 Telescope-Like Search for VSCode

Please note that, while the ideas are mine, all of the implementation was done by Cursor Agent. I don't intend to learn how to build VSCode Extensions, I just intend to build things I would use. This is purely a "Vibe Coding" project.

A fast and elegant search UI for Visual Studio Code, inspired by Neovim's Telescope plugin.

• ✅ Fuzzy file content search using ripgrep
• 🧠 Grouped results per file
• 🖱 Clickable line previews with inline context
• 👁 Hover to preview content from matching file
• 📂 Foldable sections for better readability
• 🧑‍💻 Works with VSCodeVim (j/k, :q, etc.)
• 📁 File picker with content preview (like Ctrl+P but with file content preview)

Please make sure to have ripgrep installed on your system.

Screenshot

🚀 Features

🔍 Live Content Search

• Triggered by Live Search command
• Uses ripgrep under the hood for blazing-fast results
• Debounced, fuzzy filtering while typing

📁 File Picker with Preview

• Similar to VSCode's Ctrl+P but shows file content preview
• Configurable number of preview lines (1, 3, 5, 10, or 20 lines)
• Interactive button to change preview lines on-the-fly
• Fuzzy file name and path matching
• Frecency-based file ranking (most frequently and recently used files first)

🔭 Telescope-Style File Browser

• Two-sidebar layout like Neovim's Telescope
• Left sidebar: List of files with fuzzy search
• Right sidebar: File preview with proper line wrapping
• Keyboard navigation: Arrow keys, Enter to open, Escape to close
• Mouse support: Click to select, double-click to open
• Respects preview lines setting from configuration

🚨 Problems Picker

• Browse all workspace problems/diagnostics with multi-line preview
• Automatic focus on search field for immediate filtering
• Severity icons: ❌ Errors, ⚠️ Warnings, ℹ️ Info, 💡 Hints
• Smart sorting: Errors first, then warnings, then by file and line
• Multi-line context preview around each problem

📁 File Picker Tab (NEW!)

• Dedicated tab interface similar to VSCode's Problems tab
• Ultra-fast file search with instant filtering by relative path
• Live file preview with two-pane layout and line numbers
• Smart file type icons for visual file identification
• Full relative paths displayed from workspace root for better context
• Persistent tab that stays open while you work
• Full keyboard navigation with arrow keys and shortcuts
• Configurable preview lines with interactive button to change settings
• Real-time file count display and updates

📄 Result View (CodeLens Style)

• Shows matches grouped per file
• Each match includes a few lines of context
• Foldable sections per file using built-in folding support
• Hover over matches to see exact content preview from original file
• Clickable CodeLens to open exact line in editor
• Press Ctrl+Enter on a line to open its location

🧭 Keyboard Support

• Works seamlessly with VSCodeVim as well.
• j/k to move, :q to quit, / to search in buffer
• Ctrl+Enter to open the selected line result

📦 Installation

1. Clone or download this extension
2. Run npm install inside the extension directory
3. Press F5 to open a new Extension Development Host

🧰 Commands

⌨️ Default Keybindings

{
  "key": "ctrl+p",
  "command": "telescopeLikeSearch.filePicker",
  "when": "!inQuickOpen"
},
{
  "key": "ctrl+shift+m",
  "command": "telescopeLikeSearch.problemsPicker",
  "when": "!inQuickOpen"
},
{
  "key": "ctrl+shift+o",
  "command": "telescopeLikeSearch.filePickerTab",
  "when": "!inQuickOpen"
},
{
  "key": "ctrl+l",
  "command": "telescopeLikeSearch.openCodelensViewFromPicker",
  "when": "inputFocus && inQuickOpen"
},
{
  "key": "ctrl+enter",
  "command": "telescopeLikeSearch.openLineFromVirtualDoc",
  "when": "editorTextFocus && resourceScheme == 'telescope-results'"
}

⚙️ Configuration

The extension provides several configuration options:

{
  // Number of lines to show in file preview (default: 1)
  "telescopeLikeSearch.previewLines": 1,
  
  // Maximum number of items to show in pickers (default: 30)
  "telescopeLikeSearch.maxItemsInPicker": 30,
  
  // Glob patterns for files to exclude from search
  "telescopeLikeSearch.excludePatterns": [
    "**/node_modules/**",
    "**/dist/**",
    "**/.git/**"
  ],
  
  // Maximum file size in bytes to include in search (default: 1MB)
  "telescopeLikeSearch.maxFileSize": 1048576
}

🛠 Requirements

• ripgrep must be installed and available in your PATH
• VS Code version 1.70+

📄 License

MIT License © 2025