Hide Me

Declutter your workspace

A VS Code extension that lets you hide files and folders from the Explorer view to reduce visual clutter. Right-click to hide, view hidden items in a dedicated sidebar section, and unhide whenever you need them back. Available on the VS Code Marketplace.

Right-click any file or folder in the Explorer and select "Hide Me" to remove it from view
Hidden items appear in a dedicated sidebar section where you can unhide them individually or all at once
Visual-only hiding means the actual file system remains completely unchanged
Nested hiding automatically hides folder contents when you hide a parent directory

Analyze

Finding the right problem

My codebases had grown massive with folders and files I never needed to see: wrangler configs, .temp directories, .DS_Store files, build outputs. I wanted to hide them so the Explorer was visually cleaner.

Every project accumulated config files, cache folders, and generated outputs that cluttered the sidebar
VS Code's native file exclusion requires editing config files, which is tedious for quick cleanup
The mental overhead of scanning past irrelevant files adds up across hundreds of context switches per day
Existing solutions either modified the file system or required complex glob patterns

Less visual noise means faster navigation and fewer distractions.

Create

Building and shipping

I built this as my second VS Code extension, applying lessons from Modular Clipboard. The MVP scope was minimal: hide via right-click, view hidden items, unhide individually or all at once.

Safety was the top priority since accidentally deleting files would be catastrophic, so hiding is purely visual
A dedicated sidebar panel shows all hidden items so you never lose track of what you've hidden
Hidden preferences are stored per project so each workspace can have its own configuration
Right-click context menus provide the familiar interaction pattern developers already know
Hiding a folder automatically hides everything inside it to handle the most common use case

Reversibility mattered more than power features.

Evaluate

Learning and iterating

User feedback validated that developers wanted a non-destructive way to clean up their workspace. The extension fills the gap between permanent file exclusion and living with clutter.

Users requested the "Unhide All" command after accumulating many hidden items and wanting a quick reset
The refresh command was added when users reported hidden items not updating after file system changes
I deliberately avoided adding hide rules or patterns to keep the tool simple and contextual

File system changes still break hidden state sync, a bug I'm actively working to fix.