🔍 URI Grep: Trigger Global Search via URI

URI Grep is a lightweight VS Code extension that allows you to trigger the built-in "Search in Files" feature (Global Search) using a custom URI scheme. It's designed for seamless integration with external scripts, batch files, or automation tools.

📦 Install

Editor	How
VS Code	Marketplace — or code --install-extension mfujita47.uri-grep
Forks (Antigravity IDE, VSCodium, Cursor, …)	Open VSX — or <editor> --install-extension mfujita47.uri-grep
Any editor, offline	Download the .vsix from the latest release, then code --install-extension uri-grep-<version>.vsix

✨ Key Features

• 🚀 External Integration: Launch complex searches directly from your terminal, scripts, or other applications.
• ⚙️ Deep Customization: Control every aspect of the search, including regex, case sensitivity, file inclusion/exclusion, and context lines.
• 🔄 Smart Fallbacks: Intelligent priority system: URI Parameter > VS Code Setting > left untouched.
• 📋 Context-Aware: Support for showing surrounding lines (context) in search results.

🚀 Usage

URI Format

vscode://mfujita47.uri-grep/search?query=<search_term>&[parameters]

Supported Parameters

Parameter	Description	Default (Setting)
query	(Required) The string or regex to search for.	-
filesToInclude	Glob pattern for files to search in (e.g., src/**/*.ts).	urigrep.defaultFilesToInclude
filesToExclude	Glob pattern for files to skip (e.g., **/node_modules/**).	urigrep.defaultFilesToExclude
isRegex	Treat query as a regular expression (true/false).	urigrep.defaultIsRegex
isCaseSensitive	Perform case-sensitive search (true/false).	urigrep.defaultIsCaseSensitive
matchWholeWord	Match whole words only (true/false).	urigrep.defaultMatchWholeWord
contextLines	Number of surrounding lines to show. Opens the Search Editor instead of the search panel (see note below).	urigrep.defaultContextLines
useExcludeSettingsAndIgnoreFiles	Respect .gitignore and exclude settings.	urigrep.defaultUseExcludeSettingsAndIgnoreFiles
triggerSearch	Execute search immediately (true) or just fill panel (false).	urigrep.defaultTriggerSearch (always applied, default true)

Boolean parameters accept true/1/yes/on and false/0/no/off (case-insensitive). A parameter written without a value — &isRegex — means true. Anything else is reported in the URI Grep output channel and ignored.

The URI path must be /search; any other path is rejected with an error message.

🧩 Note: VS Code forks use a different scheme

Forks register their own URL protocol, so vscode:// only reaches VS Code itself. Replace the scheme with the fork's urlProtocol (found in its resources/app/product.json):

Editor	URI
VS Code	vscode://mfujita47.uri-grep/search?query=TODO
VS Code Insiders	vscode-insiders://mfujita47.uri-grep/search?query=TODO
Antigravity IDE	antigravity-ide://mfujita47.uri-grep/search?query=TODO

Forks usually pull extensions from Open VSX rather than the VS Code Marketplace, so install from Open VSX — e.g. antigravity-ide --install-extension mfujita47.uri-grep — or from a downloaded .vsix.

🧭 Note: Unspecified parameters are left untouched

A parameter is only sent to VS Code when the URI specifies it, or when the corresponding urigrep.default* setting has been set explicitly. Anything else is not sent at all, so the Search panel keeps whatever it currently holds — a URI can change just the query without wiping the "files to include" box you typed by hand.

The exception is triggerSearch, which is always sent (defaulting to true); without it VS Code would only fill in the Search panel without running the search.

If you want a search to be fully reproducible regardless of the panel's current state, spell out every relevant parameter in the URI, or pin them via the urigrep.default* settings.

📐 Note: contextLines opens the Search Editor

VS Code's search panel command (workbench.action.findInFiles) does not accept a contextLines argument — only the Search Editor supports context lines. Therefore:

• If contextLines is present in the URI, the search is opened in a Search Editor (search.action.openEditor, reusing an existing Search Editor if there is one).
• Otherwise, the search is opened in the usual search panel.

The urigrep.defaultContextLines setting on its own does not switch to the Search Editor; it only supplies a value when the URI specifies contextLines without a valid number.

🔤 Note: URI encoding

The query string is taken literally except for percent-encoding, so + is kept as + (unlike application/x-www-form-urlencoded, where + means a space). This means regular expressions such as \d+ and searches such as C++ work as typed.

Consequences:

• Use %20 for a space. A literal + is not a space.
• & and # cannot appear directly in a value — VS Code decodes the URI before the extension sees it, so they would split the query. Encode them twice (%2526 for &, %2523 for #).
• On some shells, &, ^ and % also need shell-level quoting or escaping.

Examples

Search for console.log in TypeScript files:

vscode://mfujita47.uri-grep/search?query=console\.log&filesToInclude=src/**/*.ts&isRegex=true

Launch from Command Line:

• Command Prompt (cmd.exe):

  start "" "vscode://mfujita47.uri-grep/search?query=TODO&isCaseSensitive=true"

• PowerShell:

  Start-Process "vscode://mfujita47.uri-grep/search?query=FIXME&contextLines=3"

⚙️ Configuration

Values used when the URI does not specify a parameter. Settings you never touch have no effect: the parameter is simply not sent, and the Search panel keeps its current value.

• urigrep.defaultQuery: Search term.
• urigrep.defaultFilesToInclude: Inclusion pattern.
• urigrep.defaultFilesToExclude: Exclusion pattern.
• urigrep.defaultIsRegex: Regex.
• urigrep.defaultIsCaseSensitive: Case sensitivity.
• urigrep.defaultMatchWholeWord: Whole word.
• urigrep.defaultUseExcludeSettingsAndIgnoreFiles: Respect .gitignore and exclude settings.
• urigrep.defaultContextLines: Fallback used when the URI specifies contextLines without a valid number. Does not by itself switch to the Search Editor.
• urigrep.defaultTriggerSearch: Whether to run the search immediately (Default: true). Unlike the others, this one always applies.

📜 Changelog

Every version is published as a GitHub Release with its notes and a downloadable .vsix. The full history lives in CHANGELOG.md.

📄 License

MIT License