How Do I Hide Certain Files from the Sidebar in Visual Studio Code?

Sometimes you just want to hide certain file types for a specific project. In that case, you can create a folder in your project folder called .vscode and create the settings.json file in there, (i.e. .vscode/settings.json). All settings within that file will affect your current workspace only.

For example, in a TypeScript project, this is what I have used:

// Workspace settings
{
    // The following will hide the js and map files in the editor
    "files.exclude": {
        "**/*.js": true,
        "**/*.map": true
    }
}

The "Make Hidden" extension works great!

Make Hidden provides more control over your project's directory by enabling context menus that allow you to perform hide/show actions effortlessly, a view pane explorer to see hidden items and the ability to save workspaces to quickly toggle between bulk hidden items.

The __pycache__ folder and *.pyc files are totally unnecessary to the developer. To hide these files from the explorer view, we need to edit the settings.json for VSCode. Add the folder and the files as shown below:

"files.exclude": {
  ...
  ...
  "**/*.pyc": {"when": "$(basename).py"}, 
  "**/__pycache__": true,
  ...
  ...
}

I would also like to recommend vscode extension Peep, which allows you to toggle hide on the excluded files in your projects settings.json.

Hit F1 for vscode command line (command palette), then

ext install [enter] peep [enter]

You can bind "extension.peepToggle" to a key like Ctrl+Shift+P (same as F1 by default) for easy toggling. Hit Ctrl+K Ctrl+S for key bindings, enter peep, select Peep Toggle and add your binding.

For .meta files while using Unity3D, I found the best pattern for hiding is:

"files.exclude": {
  "*/**/**.meta": true
}

This captures all folders and subfolders, and will pick up foo.cs.meta in addition to foo.meta

If you're using VSCode:

• File > Preferences > Settings
• Search for:

files:exclude

• Then add

**/node_modules

• Click OK.

You shouldn't need to restart or reload VSCode to take effect

If your working on a Angular 2+ application, and like me you like a clean working environment, follow @omt66 answer and paste the below in your settings.json file. I recommend you do this once all the initial setup has been completed.

Note: This will actually hide the .vscode folder (with settings.json) in as well. (Open in your native file explorer / text editor if you need to make changes afterwards)

{
    "files.exclude": {
        ".vscode":true,
        "node_modules/":true,
        "dist/":true,
        "e2e/":true,
        "*.json": true,
        "**/*.md": true,
        ".gitignore": true,
        "**/.gitkeep":true,
        ".editorconfig": true,
        "**/polyfills.ts": true,
        "**/main.ts": true,
        "**/tsconfig.app.json": true,
        "**/tsconfig.spec.json": true,
        "**/tslint.json": true,
        "**/karma.conf.js": true,
        "**/favicon.ico": true,
        "**/browserslist": true,
        "**/test.ts": true
    }
}

VS Code's File Nesting Feature

See the GIF below

I answered this question, with File-nesting as an answer a month or two ago, however, the feature wasn't actually released yet, but today the "VS Code File Nesting Feature" released officially.

It's one of the cooler features released in the past 6 months or so, for sure. I took the time to create a gif, which shows the configuration I used to get the functionality that the gif demonstrates. Ill also go over each available setting.

The GIF you see below shows File-Nesting, and How it works.

The gif shows a folding control that is able to toggle files in & out of view (one might say that it hides them, which would be an accurate statement). However, it does this without a directory. The question at this point is HOW? How does it know which to hide?

File-nesting has to be configured. You got to add the settings you see in my settings.json file on the right side of the GIF, but before you go watch the GIF again, lets go over each file nesting setting below.