One keystroke to copy the full dotted key path from any YAML file to your clipboard.

What it does

Place your cursor on any YAML key and press Cmd+Alt+Y (Mac) / Ctrl+Alt+Y (Win/Linux). The full dotted path is copied to clipboard instantly — no config, no setup.

en:
  api:
    problems:
      server_error: 'Oops, something went wrong'  # ← cursor here

Clipboard: en.api.problems.server_error

Demo

YAML Path Copy demo

Features

Instant — resolves full dotted path at any nesting depth
Three triggers — keybinding, Command Palette, right-click context menu
Smart — skips blank lines, comments, array items when resolving parents
Colon-safe — handles values with colons (URLs, timestamps)
Zero config — works on all .yml / .yaml files out of the box
Tiny — 1 KB bundled, activates only when a YAML file is open

Usage

Keybinding

Platform	Shortcut
macOS	`Cmd + Alt + Y`
Windows / Linux	`Ctrl + Alt + Y`

Command Palette

Cmd+Shift+P → type Copy YAML Path → Enter

Right-click in any YAML file → Copy YAML Path

Examples

Rails i18n locales

en:
  activerecord:
    errors:
      models:
        user:
          attributes:
            email:
              taken: 'has already been taken'
              # → en.activerecord.errors.models.user.attributes.email.taken

Kubernetes / Docker Compose

services:
  web:
    environment:
      DATABASE_URL: postgres://...  # → services.web.environment.DATABASE_URL

GitHub Actions

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest  # → jobs.build.runs-on

Any nested config

feature_flags:
  payments:
    stripe:
      webhook_secret: sk_live_...  # → feature_flags.payments.stripe.webhook_secret

Configuration

Exclude prefixes

In i18n workflows the locale key is often implicit — your code calls t('base.action'), not t('en.base.action'). Configure yaml-path-copy.excludePrefixes to strip those leading segments automatically.

settings.json:

{
  "yaml-path-copy.excludePrefixes": ["en"]
}

With this set, placing your cursor on server_error below:

en:
  api:
    problems:
      server_error: 'Oops, something went wrong'

…copies api.problems.server_error instead of en.api.problems.server_error.

Multiple prefixes are supported (e.g. ["en", "ar"]). The first matching prefix is stripped.

Rebinding the shortcut

Cmd+K Cmd+S → search yaml-path-copy.copyPath, or add to keybindings.json:

{
  "key": "cmd+shift+c",
  "command": "yaml-path-copy.copyPath",
  "when": "editorLangId == yaml"
}

Requirements

VS Code 1.63.0 or newer
No runtime dependencies

Known Limitations

Flow-style YAML ({key: value} inline) — path resolves to null
Multi-document YAML (--- separator) — each document treated independently
Anchors / aliases (&anchor, *alias) — alias key name copied, not anchor's path

Release Notes

See full CHANGELOG.

0.3.0

excludePrefixes setting for stripping locale/namespace prefixes before copying

0.2.1

CI fixes: Node.js 24, publish from vsix, GitHub release permissions
Version bump automation with CHANGELOG guard

0.2.0

Initial stable marketplace release

Contributing

git clone https://github.com/ldrner/yaml-path-copy
npm install
npm run watch      # rebuild on save
# Press F5 in VS Code → Extension Development Host opens
npm run test:unit  # unit tests
npm run lint       # ESLint

Open an issue before large changes.

YAML Path Copy