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Fresh File Explorer – VS Code extension for navigating recent work

53 points by frehu - 15 comments
3eb7988a1663 [3 hidden]5 mins ago
Is Microsoft ever going to implement proper VS Code plugin sandboxing? There are so many good extensions I would like to use, but I hate the security implications of loading yet more unvetted code for a nice-to-have.

Then again, I see that the top buzz in the industry is about Claws and letting LLMs run loose with only a handshake agreement to be safe, and I already know the answer.

StrangeSound [3 hidden]5 mins ago
And it's only getting worse with the waves of vibe-coders.

I actually wrote about this recently after poking around a popular extension that Antigravity users were installing. It's wild what people are doing with your credentials, and you'd have no idea! https://opista.com/posts/blind-trust-in-vs-code-extensions

MantisShrimp90 [3 hidden]5 mins ago
The only real answer is something like web assembly and that would be a major breaking change for them.

This is why allot run dev containers but agreed this really should be top priority but instead is probably in the "maybe if we have a major security incident" bucket of concerns as these things often are

frehu [3 hidden]5 mins ago
There's no malware in it currently, but I understand your concerns - I could be lying, go rogue later, or just get my access stolen.

One option is to vet a version yourself and disable auto-update, but that's not really feasible to spend time on for most people.

3eb7988a1663 [3 hidden]5 mins ago
Sorry, no sleight intended against you, just a general concern as more and more cool utilities keep getting built into the platform.
frehu [3 hidden]5 mins ago
No offense taken, you actually made me reconsider trying out random extensions that sound like mine to make sure i'm not reinventing the wheel
benatkin [3 hidden]5 mins ago
Doesn't seem like it. It will be stuck in a security theater situation, just like Chrome extensions. Not an upgrade from the old highly powerful firefox extensions or those of the Atom text editor.
helle253 [3 hidden]5 mins ago
This is really neat - i especially like the heatmap, makes it very easy to immediately figure out what is actively being worked on, even in the regular file explorer view

that said, I'm not sure i plan on using it long term - as someone else pointed out, the lack of extension sandboxing does make me feel a bit uncomfortable for extensions like this that aren't backed by large entities.

timfsu [3 hidden]5 mins ago
Love this idea. Working with AI assistants, I find it easier to push to GitHub to look at the changes, rather than use my IDE. I wish that wasn’t the case, so this makes a ton of sense.
frehu [3 hidden]5 mins ago
File explorer with a twist - instead of 5000 files of which you need to see 20, shows pending changes + files modified within a time window (pending, 3 days, 7 days, 30 days, etc.) pulled from Git history. This way you don't get lost browsing everything or lose track of your work immediately after a commit.

Beyond the core concept, there's also

- A heatmap that colors files based on recency

- Deleted files appear in the tree where they used to be

- A pinned section for files that are not recent but handy

- File history, diff search (pickaxe) and git log -L line/function history available from editor context menu

- File grouping based on the moon phase during the most recent commit (good luck finding alternative software for this)

vldszn [3 hidden]5 mins ago
Looks very cool, starred on github and downloaded extension :)
banku_brougham [3 hidden]5 mins ago
looks pretty cool! Ive definitely been wanting some improvement in file discovery and exploration
aquir [3 hidden]5 mins ago
This is a great idea! I will give it a try!
brcmthrowaway [3 hidden]5 mins ago
Is there something like this integrated with Ctrl P vim?
frehu [3 hidden]5 mins ago
I don't use vim so i'm not sure what you mean exactly, but if you want a file quick pick like vscode's ctrl+p but for the fresh files, that's something i have - the default binding is ctrl+q, f.