Clipster 📁

A VS Code extension to copy file paths, folder structures, and contents from the file explorer to the clipboard — perfect for sharing with ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, or even real humans.

Features

Create

• 📋 Create File or Folder from Clipboard — Creates one or multiple files or folders based on the paths in your clipboard.

Copy Structure

• 📁 Copy Folder Structure — Copies the folder structure without file contents.
• 📁 Copy Folder Structure and Content — Copies the folder structure along with all file contents.
• 📄 Copy File(s) Content with Path — Copies the file content with its full path as a header.

Copy Root

• 🏠 Copy Root Folder Path — Copies the workspace root folder path.
• 🏠 Copy Root Folder Structure — Copies the root folder structure without file contents.
• 🏠 Copy Root Folder Structure and Content — Copies the root folder structure with file contents (respects size/file limits).

Copy & Paste Files

• 📄 Copy File(s) — Copies a file path to the clipboard for pasting into another folder.
• 📋 Paste File(s) — Pastes a previously copied file into the selected folder.

Usage

1. Right-click on any file or folder in the VS Code explorer.
2. Select an option from the Clipster 📁 submenu.

Creating Files or Folders from Clipboard

1. Copy file/folder paths to your clipboard (one per line).
2. Right-click a directory in the VS Code explorer.
3. Select 📋 Create File or Folder from Clipboard.
4. Confirm when prompted (for multi-line content).

Paths ending in / or \ are created as folders. Everything else is created as a file. Paths are relative to the directory you right-clicked.

Copying Folder Structures

Right-click any folder and choose a copy option. The output uses Unicode tree characters:

🖥️ clipster
Path: c:\projects\clipster
┣ 📁 src/
┃ ┣ 📁 utils/
┃ ┃ ┗ 📄 helper.ts
┃ ┗ 📄 extension.ts
┣ 📁 resources/
┃ ┗ 📄 icon.png
┗ 📄 README.md

The tree output respects .gitignore patterns and your custom ignore settings.

Settings

Customize Clipster via File > Preferences > Settings and search for "Clipster".

Appearance

Setting	Default	Description
clipster.showEmojis	true	Show emoji icons (📁 📄 🖥️) in tree output and menus. Requires reload.
clipster.showInClipsterSubmenu	true	Show commands in a submenu or directly in the context menu.

Command Visibility

Toggle individual commands on or off in the context menu:

Setting	Default	Command
clipster.showCreateFileFromClipboard	true	Create File or Folder from Clipboard
clipster.showCopyFolderStructure	true	Copy Folder Structure
clipster.showCopyFolderStructureAndContent	true	Copy Folder Structure and Content
clipster.showCopyFileContentWithHeader	true	Copy File(s) Content with Path
clipster.showCopyFileContents	true	Copy File Contents (no path)
clipster.showCopyRootFolderPath	true	Copy Root Folder Path
clipster.showCopyRootFolderStructure	true	Copy Root Folder Structure
clipster.showCopyRootFolderStructureAndContent	true	Copy Root Folder Structure and Content
clipster.showCopyFile	true	Copy File(s)
clipster.showPasteFile	true	Paste File(s)

Limits & Filtering

Setting	Default	Description
clipster.maxRootFiles	10	Maximum number of files to include when copying root folder content.
clipster.maxRootSizeKB	500	Maximum total size (KB) when copying root folder content.
clipster.additionalIgnores	[]	Custom glob patterns to ignore (in addition to .gitignore).

Ignoring Files

Clipster automatically respects .gitignore patterns when copying folder structures. Add custom patterns via the clipster.additionalIgnores setting:

"clipster.additionalIgnores": [
  "*.log",
  "dist/**",
  "coverage/**"
]

Installation

From VS Code Marketplace: Search for "Clipster" in the Extensions panel.

From source:

npm install
npm run build
npm run install-extension

Or use the interactive dev menu:

npm run menu

Development

Script	Description
npm run menu	Interactive dev menu with all commands
npm test	Run Jest tests with coverage
npm run test:quick	Run only changed tests
npm run build	TypeScript check + production webpack build
npm run type-check	TypeScript compiler check only
npm run install-extension	Package VSIX and install locally
npm run clean-build-install	Full clean + version bump + build + install

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.