NestGen

• Visualise & export the file/directory structure of your current workspace in one click
• Automatic file structure generation using Watch Mode
• Current version : 1.0.0

Commands

• NestGen: Generate File Structure
• NestGen: Toggle Watch Mode

Features

• 📁 Generate directory tree for any workspace or folder
• 📝 Export structure to file (.txt, .md, or .json)
• 📋 Copy generated tree to clipboard
• ⚙️ Configurable maximum depth for traversal
• 📂 Respects .gitignore rules
• 🚫 Automatically excludes .git directories
• 🔠 Alphabetically sorts files & folders
• 🖱️ Status bar button for one-click generation
• 👀 In-editor preview with silent live updates
• 🔄 Watch Mode to auto-regenerate on file changes
• ⏱️ Debounced filesystem watching for performance
• ♻️ Watch state persists across reloads
• 🧩 Multi-root workspace support
• 📦 Multiple output formats (Plain Text, Markdown, JSON)
• 🔌 Public API for other extensions & tools
• 🚀 Async filesystem traversal for large workspaces

Requirements

• No external dependencies
• Works out-of-the-box with VS Code 1.102.0 and above

Installation

1. VSCode Marketplace: Search for "NestGen" in the VSCode Extensions Marketplace
2. Install: Click on "Install" to add NestGen to your VSCode setup
3. Reload: Reload VSCode to activate NestGen

Extension Configuration Settings

This extension contributes the following setting:

• nestgen.maxDepth: (number) Maximum depth for tree generation
  • Default is 10
• fileStructureGenerator.watchMode: (boolean)
  • Automatically regenerate file structure when files change
  • Default: false

Public API (For Other Extensions)

NestGen exposes a public API that allows other VS Code extensions to generate a file/directory tree programmatically

Usage

const nestgen = vscode.extensions.getExtension("eshansud.nestgen");

if (nestgen) {
  await nestgen.activate();
  const { generateTree } = nestgen.exports;

  const tree = await generateTree("/absolute/path/to/workspace", {
    maxDepth: 5,
    format: "text", // "text" | "md" | "json"
  });

  console.log(tree);
}

generateTree(rootPath, options)

• Parameters

Name	Type	Description
rootPath	string	Absolute path to the directory to scan
options.maxDepth	number	Maximum traversal depth
options.format	"text" | "md" | "json"	Output format

• Returns

Promise<string>;

Known Issues

• Clipboard copy might not work in some remote/SSH VS Code contexts
• Very large workspaces may take longer to generate the initial tree

Changelog

• See CHANGELOG.md for a complete list of changes

Contributing

• Suggestions, issues, & contributions are welcome!

License

MIT

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We value your feedback! If you encounter any issues or have suggestions for improvement, please don't hesitate to file an issue on our GitHub repository.

Enjoy!