feat(search): suggest closest files (fuzzy) when no match#73
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When the file filter returns no results, fall back to a "did you mean" list of the 5 closest file names by Levenshtein distance instead of showing an empty picker. Distance is computed against each file's base name (case-insensitive) so short queries are not penalized by long directory prefixes. The logic lives in a dependency-free, unit-tested module. Closes #54 Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Adds @vscode/vsce as a dev dependency and a `package` script so the VSIX can be built with a single command, without publishing. Documents the flow in the README. Also tightens .vscodeignore to keep editor undo files and husky hooks out of the package, and ignores the generated *.vsix output in git. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Replace plain Levenshtein with a subsequence-first ranker that also handles abbreviations (e.g. "btn" -> Button.tsx, "uc" -> UserController.ts), falling back to Damerau-Levenshtein edit distance for substitution typos. Cap the fallback at 50k candidates (MAX_FALLBACK_CANDIDATES) so the one-shot scan stays bounded on very large workspaces regardless of repo size (~190ms worst case at 2M files, ~30ms typical). Rename the module to closest-match.ts to reflect its broader scope. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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This was referenced Jul 7, 2026
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What
Closes #54.
When the file filter returns no matching files, the picker used to show an empty list. Now it falls back to a "did you mean" list of the 5 closest file names, with a placeholder that explains the fallback:
How
New dependency-free, unit-tested module
src/closest-match.tswith a hybrid ranker, because a query lands in this fallback for one of two reasons that fail differently under any single metric:btn→Button.tsx,uc→UserController.ts) — ranked by a fuzzy subsequence scorer that rewards contiguous runs, word boundaries, and camelCase humps. Plain edit distance would penalize the gaps and bury these.bztton→Button.tsx) — a substitution breaks a subsequence entirely, so when nothing matches as a subsequence we fall back to Damerau-Levenshtein edit distance (transpositions likebuttno→buttoncount as one edit).Matching is case-insensitive and against each file's base name, so a short query isn't penalized by long directory prefixes.
extension.tswiring: in the input-filter path, when the substring filter yields zero matches, show the ranked suggestions instead of an empty picker.showQuickPickgained an optionalplaceHolderfor the fallback message.Performance at scale
The fallback is one-shot (fires on Enter, not per keystroke) over the already-cached, in-memory file list. It's capped at
MAX_FALLBACK_CANDIDATES = 50_000so the worst case is constant regardless of repo size (100k / 1M / 10M+ files). Measured on a synthetic 2M-file workspace: ~30ms typical (abbreviation hit) and ~190ms absolute worst case (pure typo forcing a full edit-distance pass). The cap is a module constant, deliberately not a user setting (it's a safety guard, not a preference;searchCountLimitis the user-facing knob).Tests
test/closest-match.test.tscovers transposition distance, subsequence null/scoring, abbreviation + camelCase ranking, the typo fallback, base-name comparison, and the candidate cap. All tests pass (npm test).Also in this PR
npm run packagescript (+@vscode/vscedev dep) to build the VSIX locally without publishing, documented briefly in the README..vscodeignore/.gitignoretidy-up so the packaged VSIX and git tree stay clean.🤖 Generated with Claude Code