Open Path

Open the best matching link, URL, or file path on the current line with a command or keyboard shortcut.

Open Path is based on the MIT-licensed Open Target extension by danbi2990. This fork adds environment-variable expansion, automatic shell detection, unresolved-variable protection, path inference, and folder opening in a new VS Code window.

Why This Fork Exists

The original Open Target extension made navigation easier when working with AI agents that communicate through file references. Open Path keeps that workflow and extends it for projects that use environment-variable based paths such as $PROJECT/src/app.ts, plus folder targets that should open as workspaces.

Features

• Open inline Markdown links like [Guide](https://github.com/xmleee/open-path/blob/HEAD/README.md#commands)
• Open plain URLs like https://example.com/docs
• Open local file paths like src/app.ts
• Open local folder paths in a new VS Code window
• Open file locations like src/app.ts:42 and src/app.ts:42:7
• Open Markdown heading targets like README.md#getting-started
• Optionally resolve environment variables in local paths, such as $PROJECT/src/app.ts
• Prefer the target under the cursor when a line contains multiple targets
• If the cursor is not on a target, fall back to the first valid target on the same line
• Work in Markdown and non-Markdown files
• Resolve relative paths from the current file, with a workspace-folder fallback

Relative Path Resolution

Local relative paths are resolved in this order:

1. The current document's directory
2. The current document's containing workspace folder root, if the first path does not exist

In a multi-root workspace, the fallback uses the workspace folder that contains the active document, not a global workspace root.

Environment Variables

Environment variable resolution is disabled by default. Enable open-path.resolveEnvironmentVariables to expand variables before opening local paths. The extension uses the VS Code extension host environment, terminal.integrated.env.* settings, and the user's shell environment. If a path still contains an unresolved variable, Open Path shows a warning instead of opening it as a relative path.

The shell used for reading variables is detected automatically from the active VS Code terminal when possible, then from terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.* and terminal.integrated.profiles.*, then from older terminal shell settings, and finally from SHELL or ComSpec.

If a leading variable such as $PROJECT/path/to/file cannot be read from the environment, open-path.inferEnvironmentVariablesFromPaths lets the extension try ancestor directories from the current file and only accept an inferred value when the resulting path exists.

Use open-path.environmentVariableFormat to choose the syntax:

• dollar: $VAR
• braced: ${VAR}
• percent: %VAR%
• all: all supported formats

Commands

• open-path.openPathUnderCursor

Default Keybinding

• Cmd+Enter / Ctrl+Enter: open the best matching target on the current line

Next Likely Steps

• Support reference-style markdown links
• Handle titles and escaped parentheses more robustly
• Improve relative path resolution across more non-workspace file cases