VS Code Project Launcher

A desktop application to easily manage and launch VS Code workspaces from a centralized interface.

Installation • Features • Usage • Contributing

🚀 Features

Workspace Discovery: Automatically scans your development directories for .code-workspace files
Quick Launch: Double-click to open workspaces in VS Code
Search & Filter: Find workspaces quickly by name or path
Favorites: Mark frequently used workspaces as favorites
Recent Workspaces: Keep track of recently opened workspaces
Desktop Integration: Install as a desktop application on Linux
Configurable: Set custom scan directories and preferences

📸 Screenshots

Main application window showing workspace list with search and favorites

Configuration dialog for scan directories and preferences

🛠 Installation

Prerequisites

Python 3.7+
VS Code installed and accessible via code command
Linux desktop environment (tested on Fedora, Ubuntu, etc.)

Quick Setup

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Zajfan/vscode-project-launcher.git
cd vscode-project-launcher

# Run the setup script
./setup_launcher.sh

# Launch the application
./launch.sh

Manual Installation

# Install system dependencies (Fedora/RHEL)
sudo dnf install python3-tkinter

# Install Python dependencies
pip3 install --user -r requirements.txt

# Make scripts executable
chmod +x launch.sh cli.py src/install_desktop.py

Desktop Integration

# Install desktop shortcut and menu entry
python3 src/install_desktop.py --desktop-shortcut

# System-wide installation (requires sudo)
sudo python3 src/install_desktop.py --system --desktop-shortcut

📚 Usage

GUI Mode (Recommended)

Launch the graphical interface:

./launch.sh

Command Line Interface

# List all workspaces
./cli.py list

# Search for workspaces
./cli.py search "project name"

# Launch a workspace by index
./cli.py launch 1

# Launch a specific workspace file
./cli.py launch ~/path/to/workspace.code-workspace

# Show favorites and recent workspaces
./cli.py favorites
./cli.py recent

Keyboard Shortcuts

Ctrl+R or F5: Refresh workspace list
Ctrl+F: Focus search box
Ctrl+O or Enter: Open selected workspace
Ctrl+N: Open workspace in new window
Escape: Clear search

🏗 Project Structure

src/
├── main.py              # Application entry point
├── gui/                 # GUI components
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── main_window.py   # Main application window
│   ├── settings_dialog.py # Settings configuration
│   └── workspace_item.py # Workspace list item widget
├── core/                # Core functionality
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── workspace_scanner.py # Workspace file discovery
│   ├── config_manager.py    # Configuration management
│   └── launcher.py          # VS Code launching logic
└── utils/               # Utility functions
    ├── __init__.py
    └── file_utils.py    # File system utilities

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Here's how you can help:

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
Open a Pull Request

Development Setup

# Clone your fork
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/vscode-project-launcher.git
cd vscode-project-launcher

# Create virtual environment (optional)
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Run the application
./launch.sh

Areas for Contribution

🐛 Bug Reports: Found a bug? Please open an issue
💡 Feature Requests: Have an idea? Let's discuss it
📖 Documentation: Help improve the docs
🧪 Testing: Add unit tests and integration tests
🎨 UI/UX: Improve the interface design
🚀 Performance: Optimize scanning and launching

🐛 Troubleshooting

Common Issues

VS Code not found

# Install the 'code' command in VS Code
# Ctrl+Shift+P → "Shell Command: Install 'code' command in PATH"

Permission errors when scanning

# Check directory permissions
ls -la /path/to/directory

Missing tkinter

# Fedora/RHEL/CentOS
sudo dnf install python3-tkinter

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install python3-tk

📝 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

VS Code team for creating an amazing editor
Python tkinter community for GUI framework
All contributors who help improve this project

⭐ Support

If you found this project helpful, please consider:

⭐ Starring the repository
🐛 Reporting bugs and issues
💡 Suggesting new features
🤝 Contributing code or documentation

Made with ❤️ for the VS Code community