What Changed

A VS Code extension that shows what branch you're on, which base branch you're comparing to (e.g. main or develop), and all files changed in your branch—with their current state (modified, staged, etc.). Open files quickly and view diffs against the base branch.

Features

• Branch info – Current branch and configurable base branch (default: main)
• Changed files list – All files that differ from the base branch, with status:
  • In-branch status: added, modified, deleted, renamed, etc.
  • Working tree state: staged, modified, untracked, or unchanged
• Quick open – Click a file (or use the Open action) to open it for editing
• Diff – Use "Compare with Base Branch" on a file to open a side-by-side diff against the base branch

Configuration

• whatChanged.mainBranch – The base branch to compare against (e.g. main, develop, master). Default: main.
• whatChanged.viewMode – How to show changed files: flat (single list) or tree (collapsible folders). Default: flat. You can also toggle this with the button in the view title.
• whatChanged.pathFilter – Only show files whose path contains this text. Leave empty to show all.
• whatChanged.statusFilter – Only show files with this working tree status: all, modified, staged, or untracked. Default: all.
• whatChanged.copyPathsFormat – When copying changed file paths: relative, absolute, or prompt (ask each time). Default: prompt.

Usage

1. Open the What Changed view from the Activity Bar (branch/diff icon), or press Alt+Shift+W (Option+Shift+W on Mac) to focus it.
2. The view shows: your-branch ← main and the list of changed files.
3. Click a file to open it, or use the diff icon to compare with the base branch.
4. Use the refresh icon in the view title to reload.
5. Use the ... menu in the view title → Change comparison branch... to compare against a different base (e.g. develop instead of main).

Ideas for future improvements

Quick wins (implemented)

• Commit count – Branch row shows "X ahead" and "Y behind" when relevant.
• Copy paths – Use ... → Copy changed file paths... to copy relative or absolute paths.
• Focus view – Alt+Shift+W (Option+Shift+W on Mac) focuses the view; customize in Keyboard Shortcuts.
• Stash hint – When you have stashes, the branch row shows "N stash(es)".

Filtering & display

• Filter by path – Text box or setting to only show paths matching a pattern (e.g. src/, *.ts). (implemented)
• Filter by status – Toggle to show only modified, only staged, or only untracked. (implemented)
• Sort options – Sort by path, status, or “recently changed” (if we can get mtime).

Diff & compare

• Open all diffs – Command to open the diff view for every changed file (e.g. in a second editor group).
• Diff stats – Show +/- line counts per file in the tree (from git diff --stat).
• Compare with another branch – Quick pick to temporarily compare against a branch other than the configured base.

Workflow

• Per-workspace base branch – Store comparison branch per workspace (e.g. develop here, main there).
• Open all changed files – Open all changed files in the editor at once (current group or new group).
• Stage / unstage from view – Inline or context menu to stage or unstage the selected file.
• Reveal in Explorer – Context menu to show the file in the file explorer.

Polish

• Badge on activity bar icon – Show the number of changed files on the What Changed icon. (implemented)
• Empty state – Friendly message and “Change comparison branch” when there are no changes. (implemented)
• Multi-root workspace – Support multiple repo roots (one What Changed section per folder or a single merged list).

Development

This project uses pnpm. Install dependencies and build:

pnpm install
pnpm run compile

Running in Cursor / VS Code

Option A – Run from source (recommended)
Open this folder in Cursor, press F5. A new window (Extension Development Host) opens with the extension loaded. Use the What Changed view there. No install step.

Option B – Install as an extension (use in any window)
Build a .vsix and install it so the extension is available in every Cursor window:

pnpm install
pnpm run package

Then in Cursor:

1. Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P / Ctrl+Shift+P) → Extensions: Install from VSIX...
2. Select the generated what-changed-0.1.0.vsix in the project root.

Or from the terminal (Cursor only):

cursor --install-extension /path/to/what-changed/what-changed-0.1.0.vsix

If pnpm run package fails (e.g. due to a vsce secret-scan bug), use Option A (F5) to run from source.

Before committing

Run the checklist so the tree compiles and passes lint:

pnpm run check

This runs compile then lint (Biome). Use pnpm run format to format code with Biome. Optionally run the extension (F5) and click through the view to confirm nothing is broken.

Requirements

• VS Code 1.74+
• Git in PATH
• A workspace folder that is a Git repository (or inside one)