Issue #166 (Debugging Keyboard Shortcuts)06/25/25
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Did you know that you can debug keyboard shortcuts, or keybindings, in VS Code? In some instances, you might be trying to use a keyboard combination that you expect to trigger a certain action. But if it doesn't, you might wonder why.
First of all, maybe the simplest way to find a keybinding conflict is to search for the keybinding in your keybindings editor. In the example below, I'm searching for all keybindings that use "Shift + Alt", which filters the results:
That might work but you still might need some advanced debugging. In that case, you can execute the command "Developer: Toggle Keyboard Shortcuts Troubleshooting" from your command palette. This opens the "Output" panel and will display detailed information on every keyboard entry used.
Viewing this log, which is a bit unwieldy at first, will allow you to figure out what actions are being triggered (or not triggered) with your desired keyboard shortcut. For example, you'll see something like this towards the end of an output:
Invoking command workbench.action.files.openFile.
The above line indicates exactly what command was invoked by the keyboard shortcut. If it's not the one you were expecting, now you have a clue as to what to change.
You'll also want to look for something like the following:
[KeybindingService]: \ From 2 keybinding entries, matched editor.action.commentLine, when: editorTextFocus && !editorReadonly, source: built-in.
Notice the "when" clause, which indicates that the keyboard shortcut triggers something in a specific context in VS Code.
If you want to scroll through the output and maybe select some text to copy and paste, make sure to execute the "Developer: Toggle Keyboard Shortcuts Troubleshooting" command once again, which stops the output (i.e. it toggles it off). This way you can use your keyboard to do stuff without adding to the output.
Now on to this week's hand-picked links!
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VS Code Tools
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CodeSherlock — An AI-powered real-time, in-depth code analysis tool that can integrate with GitHub pull requests, VS Code, Cursor, or Windsurf.
Glyph Tool — A VS Code extension to highlight, track, and manage task-related comments directly in your codebase (e.g. TODO, FIXME, or your own custom keywords like BUG, IMPROVE, or REFACTOR).
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Smart Search — A VS Code extension for advanced search functionality, enabling support for searching project files, text, functions, variables, docs, configs, and comments.
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VS Code Theme of the Week
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Cursor Dark — This theme is the "Cursor AI editor theme from cursor.sh, repackaged for use in Visual Studio Code without needing the Cursor editor."
Not officially associated with Cursor but useful for those who like how Cursor looks but prefer to continue using VS Code.
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VS Code Articles & Videos
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Best of the Rest
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CodeCanvas — A cloud development environment (CDE) solution by JetBrains that speeds up your development.
Mastering Vim Grammar — From 2020, this is one developer's tips on how to become more productive with Vim without feeling overwhelmed by its many key combinations.
Web Tools Weekly — A weekly newsletter featuring tools, plugins, scripts and other useful apps for JavaScript, CSS, SVG, AI, React, Vue.js, mobile development, and lots more. Sponsor
Sidekick — An agentic CLI-based AI tool inspired by Claude Code, Copilot, Windsurf, and Cursor, as an open source alternative providing a similar experience but with the flexibility of using different LLM providers.
If you have any link suggestions, including a tool, article, or other resource related to VS Code or another IDE, you can hit reply, send it via DM on X, or via chat on Bluesky.
That's it for this issue.
Happy VS Coding!
Louis
VSCode.Email
@LouisLazaris
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