Let’s be real for a second: My browser history is basically just me searching for how to undo git commit and docker remove all stopped containers over and over again.
I was jumping out of my editor, opening a browser, finding the StackOverflow answer I've already read 10 times, and copying the snippet. It completely ruined my focus.
So, I decided to scratch my own itch and built my very first VS Code extension: DevSnip Commander.
It actually just hit 8 installs! Hey, you have to start somewhere, right?
What does it do?
It’s a sidebar for VS Code that keeps your most-used CLI commands exactly one click away. No more context switching.
You can check it out here:
👉 DevSnip Commander on the VS Code Marketplace
(Feel free to drop a rating if you like it, it would mean the world to me!)
How it works
I wanted it to be stupidly simple but actually useful out of the box.
- One-Click Copy: Click any snippet in the sidebar, and it's on your clipboard.
- Terminal Insert: Hover over a snippet, click the little terminal icon, and it pastes the command directly into your active VS Code terminal (without hitting enter, so you can edit it before running).
- Bring your own commands: You can create custom categories (like "My K8s Stuff" or "Deploy Scripts") and add your own snippets.
-
It syncs: Custom snippets are saved in your global VS Code
settings.json. If you use Settings Sync, your commands automatically follow you to your laptop or work machine.
The built-in library
To make it useful from second one, I pre-loaded it with 97 commands that I (and probably you) use the most:
| Category | Snippets | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 🔀 Git | 34 |
commit, rebase, cherry-pick, stash
|
| 📦 npm | 23 |
install, run, audit, publish
|
| 🐳 Docker | 16 |
build, run, compose, prune
|
| 🐧 Linux / Shell | 19 |
find, grep, curl, chmod
|
| 💻 VS Code CLI | 5 |
open folder, list extensions
|
Building it was a journey
Getting into the VS Code Extension API was... interesting. I learned a lot about the TreeDataProvider to get the sidebar working smoothly.
I intentionally designed the storage layer to read and write directly to the VS Code configuration instead of a random local file. That way, users keep full ownership of their data and get cloud syncing for free.
I'd love your feedback!
Since this is my first extension, I'm super curious what you think.
- Did I miss a crucial Git command?
- Is there a category you'd love to see built-in?
- Found a bug?
Let me know in the comments or open an issue on the repo. Happy coding, and may you never have to Google tar -xzf ever again!
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