Paths-LE: Zero Hassle Path Extraction
Pull every file path out of the current file in one keystroke
JavaScript, TypeScript, JSON, HTML, CSS, TOML, CSV, and Environment files
Useful? A star or rating is how other developers find it — ★ GitHub · ★ Marketplace · ★ Open VSX
What it does
Open a file, press Ctrl+Alt+P (Cmd+Alt+P on Mac), and every file path in the document lands in a new editor — deduplicate and sort it from there. Works in VS Code and in VS Code–based editors like Cursor and VSCodium (installable from Open VSX).
- Import analysis — extract local imports from JS/TS, including multi-line import statements; npm package names are filtered out
- Asset auditing — every
src,href,srcset,url(), and@importin HTML/CSS - Config review — path-like values from JSON/JSONC, TOML, CSV, and
.envfiles
Use it from an AI agent
The same engine runs as an MCP server, so an agent can call it directly instead of you running a command.
| Editor | How |
|---|---|
| VS Code 1.101+ | Nothing to install — the extension registers extract_paths with agent mode |
| Zed | Paths-LE — pending review |
| Claude Code | claude mcp add paths-le -- npx -y paths-le-mcp |
| Cursor, Windsurf, anything else | point it at npx paths-le-mcp |
extract_paths(content, format?, filename?, dedupe?, maxResults?)
Returns every path classified as file, relative, absolute or url, with its 1-based line and column. Paths are reported exactly as written — nothing is resolved against a workspace or touched on disk.
The server takes content and returns data — it reads no files and makes no network requests of its own. Published as paths-le-mcp on npm and as io.github.nolindnaidoo/paths-le in the MCP registry.
Configuring it by hand — any host with an MCP config file
Most hosts read a JSON config. Add one entry:
{
"mcpServers": {
"paths-le": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "paths-le-mcp"]
}
}
}
-y skips the install prompt on first run. Pin a version if you would rather not track releases — paths-le-mcp@2.2.1.
Prefer not to go through npx on every launch? Install it once and point at the binary instead:
npm install -g paths-le-mcp
{
"mcpServers": {
"paths-le": { "command": "paths-le-mcp" }
}
}
It speaks MCP over stdio and needs no environment variables, no API key and no configuration of its own. To check it before wiring it into anything:
echo '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/list"}' | npx -y paths-le-mcp
That prints the tool list and exits — if you see extract_paths, the server works.
Supported formats
| Format | Language IDs | What gets extracted |
|---|---|---|
| JavaScript / TypeScript | javascript, javascriptreact, typescript, typescriptreact | import/export … from, side-effect imports, dynamic import(), require() — file paths only, package names excluded |
| JSON / JSONC | json, jsonc | Path-like string values (comments and trailing commas supported) |
| HTML | html | src, href, srcset (each entry), action, poster, and similar attributes |
| CSS / SCSS / LESS | css, scss, less | url() and @import |
| TOML | toml | Path-like values and keys |
| CSV | csv | Path-like cells |
| Environment | dotenv, env | Path-like variable values and names |
Positions are real source positions for JS/TS, JSON/JSONC, HTML, and CSS (exact line and column of the path); TOML positions are located in the source text and can be approximate for repeated identical values; CSV positions are row/cell coordinates. Version strings (1.8.1) and IP addresses are never treated as paths, and data:/javascript: URLs are excluded from HTML/CSS extraction. Known limitation: bare domains like example.com are indistinguishable from filenames and are extracted.
Commands
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
Paths-LE: Extract Paths (Ctrl+Alt+P / Cmd+Alt+P) | Extract all paths from the active document |
Paths-LE: Deduplicate Paths | Remove duplicate lines from the results |
Paths-LE: Sort Paths | Sort results alphabetically or by length |
Paths-LE: Open Settings | Open Paths-LE settings |
Paths-LE: Help | Built-in documentation |
Settings
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
paths-le.openResultsSideBySide | true | Open results beside the current editor |
paths-le.postProcess.openInNewFile | true | Open results in a new file (when not side-by-side) |
paths-le.copyToClipboardEnabled | false | Also copy results to the clipboard |
paths-le.notificationsLevel | silent | all = every notification, important = warnings + errors, silent = errors only |
paths-le.safety.enabled | true | Guardrails for very large files |
paths-le.safety.fileSizeWarnBytes | 1000000 | Refuse extraction above this file size |
paths-le.safety.largeOutputLinesThreshold | 50000 | Warn above this line count |
paths-le.statusBar.enabled | true | Show the status bar item |
paths-le.telemetryEnabled | false | Local-only event log (see Privacy) |
paths-le.resolution.resolveSymlinks | false | ⚠️ Resolve symlinks to canonical paths |
paths-le.resolution.resolveWorkspaceRelative | false | ⚠️ Resolve paths against workspace folders |
Languages
Twelve languages besides English:
German · Spanish · French · Indonesian · Italian · Japanese · Korean · Portuguese (Brazil) · Russian · Ukrainian · Vietnamese · Chinese (Simplified)
Both halves are covered — the manifest (command titles, setting names and descriptions) and everything shown while the extension runs (notifications, the status bar, quick-picks and prompts). The extension follows VS Code's display language, so it matches whatever the editor is already set to; no setting of its own.
Privacy & security
- No network access. The extension never sends data anywhere. The
telemetryEnabledsetting only writes events to a local Output Channel you can inspect (Paths-LE Telemetry). - Canonical resolution is opt-in and warned. Resolving symlinks/workspace-relative paths can put absolute filesystem paths into the results document; the extension warns before first use. Leave both
resolution.*settings off unless you need them. - The MCP server holds the same line. It takes content as an argument and returns data: no filesystem access, no network calls, no telemetry. Your agent already has file-read tools, so duplicating them inside the server would add a path-traversal surface for no capability.
check:mcp-bundlefails the build if the server ever imports something that could reach either. - Error notifications redact home directories and credential-shaped fragments.
Development
bun install
bun run build # esbuild bundle -> dist/extension.js
bun run typecheck # tsc --noEmit (includes tests)
bun run test # vitest unit suite
bun run test:integration # real VS Code extension host
bun run lint # biome
bun run package # VSIX into release/
Architecture and conventions live in AGENTS.md. Changes are tracked in CHANGELOG.md.
Performance
| Input | Size | Found | Time | Rate | Scan speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TypeScript imports | 2.10 MB | 40,000 | 20.4 ms | 1,960,564/sec | 103.1 MB/s |
| JSON config | 1.17 MB | 40,001 | 25.1 ms | 1,593,917/sec | 46.7 MB/s |
| HTML document | 1.27 MB | 40,000 | 17.57 ms | 2,277,234/sec | 72 MB/s |
| CSS stylesheet | 1.57 MB | 40,000 | 18.59 ms | 2,151,130/sec | 84.5 MB/s |
| CSV data | 2.09 MB | 60,000 | 57.33 ms | 1,046,485/sec | 36.5 MB/s |
Median of 7 runs after warmup, on Apple M5 Pro, 24 GB RAM, Node 24.3.0. Inputs are generated
by scripts/benchmark.ts rather than checked in, so the sizes above are
exactly what was measured. Reproduce with bun run benchmark.
These are machine-specific and are not asserted in CI — a benchmark that gates a build only tells you how busy the runner was.
Testing
| Metric | Coverage |
|---|---|
| Statements | 91.72% |
| Branches | 84.16% |
| Functions | 94.89% |
| Lines | 92.64% |
206 test cases across 19 files, plus an integration suite that runs
in a real VS Code extension host and an end-to-end test that installs the
built .vsix into a clean profile.
Generated from coverage/coverage-summary.json by
scripts/coverage-readme.js; CI fails if this section drifts from a fresh
run. Reproduce with bun run test:coverage.
More from the LE Family
Every tool in the family, one page: letools.dev
All ten also ship as MCP servers — npx <name>-mcp gives any agent the same engine.
- String-LE - Extract string values for i18n from JSON, YAML, CSV, TOML, INI, and .env
- Numbers-LE - Extract numeric values from JSON, YAML, CSV, TOML, INI, and .env
- EnvSync-LE - Spot missing keys across your .env files, with a markdown report
- Regex-LE - Find, test, and validate regular expressions with ReDoS screening
- Secrets-LE - Detect and sanitize credentials locally, before you commit
- Scrape-LE - Check whether a page is scrapeable before you write the scraper
- Colors-LE - Extract and analyze colors from CSS, SCSS, LESS, Stylus, HTML, JS/TS, and SVG
- URLs-LE - Extract URLs from documentation, configs, and code
- Dates-LE - Extract and analyze dates from logs, configs, and code
Also by nolindnaidoo
Rust
- pixelcoords — Freeze your screen, mark regions, get pixel-exact coordinates and crops pixelcoords.dev · crates.io · docs.rs
- pixelactions — Consume human-verified coordinates, perform the interaction, confirm it landed pixelactions.dev · crates.io · docs.rs
Contact Developer — GitHub · LinkedIn
License
MIT © nolindnaidoo