voil
Dev tools
vs code extension
SHOW HN2025
67points
46comments
#1,036of 3,837 in 2025
Top 28%of 2025 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
1 positive, 7 neutral or asking, 1 mixed, 8 critical, out of 17 comments about the project. Thread score -0.27.
Privacy: 0 for, 5 againstIdea: 0 for, 2 againstDesign: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Idea is cool and useful for text-editing users
From 2 comments
Is it possible to make an extension like that for Zed?
SwiftyBug on HNAwesome work! I’ll definitely try this out.
weakfish on HN
Objections
Unverified publisher makes installing the extension a supply chain risk
From 3 comments
This looks cool, but I'm a bit wary of publishers that aren't verified. > Do you trust the publisher "Ali Mostafavi"? > The extension voil is published by Ali Mostafavi. This is…
gschizas on HN> view the source code and package the extension yourself The problem is that nobody will do that. Even if it were 500 LOC. And this is why supply chain attacks are on the rise.
4gotunameagain on HNIMO you should avoid installing editor extensions generally. It's better to try to get them merged into the editor itself. I don't think it's good to constrain people in some way…
msgodel on HN
Touch or terminal tools already do this faster
From 2 comments
Falling to see why `touch newfile` doesn't accomplish this as fast if not faster and without yet another extension.
dcreater on HNIf you need complex file manipulation, all of that can be achieved by writing a shell script. That's what I've been doing. You also automatically get access to flow control…
homebrewer on HN
UI feels raw
From 1 comment
The idea's cool, but the ui is kinda raw
_Broken_Cloud_ on HN
Requests
Port the extension to Zed
From 1 comment
Is it possible to make an extension like that for Zed?
SwiftyBug on HN
Questions
Is there an equivalent for Zed
From 2 comments
Is it possible to make an extension like that for Zed?
SwiftyBug on HNAFAIK not with their current extremely limited API, but it’s on their roadmap to have a more extendable editor.
weakfish on HN
Alternatives named
oil.nvim
From 1 comment
Some vim user too! oil.nvim is a pretty popular package that does this.
heltale on HN
dired
From 2 comments
hey that's just dired ! https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Dired.html
signa11 on HNI don't use emacs so I may not be familiar with the full power, but if you are referring to dired, I think oil.nvim is much, much more powerful than dired. The major difference…
hexomancer on HN
vimv
From 1 comment
See vimv (https://github.com/thameera/vimv) for a minimal version of this in the CLI, using Vim as the editor.
lorenzohess on HN
vidir
From 1 comment
Also vidir, which is in the moreutils package in popular distros.
mjw1007 on HN