Workspace Halo identifies each Visual Studio Code window on Windows 11 with a halo: a colored border, the workspace name, and its logo, drawn over the window exactly when you need to tell your workspaces apart, and hidden while you work. It is a Windows-only extension: the overlay is drawn by a Win32 native host.
Build the VSIX first
Workspace Halo is not published on the Visual Studio Marketplace yet. With
Node.js 22 or later and Go already on PATH, build.bat works directly: no
need to install senv first. Without them, the portable
senv toolchain provides both:
dwl node 22, inst node 22, then the project senv.bat. The details are
in the wiki: set up the build toolchain
and build and package the VSIX.
Two files give a workspace its halo
Install the built workspace-halo-win32-x64.vsix (Extensions view, ...
menu, Install from VSIX...), then, in a folder named my-project:
- Save the workspace as
.vscode\my-project.code-workspace(File > Save Workspace As...): the workspace is now named after its folder. - Add its logo as
.vscode\my-project.logo.png, named after the workspace.
my-project/
`-- .vscode/
|-- my-project.code-workspace
`-- my-project.logo.png
When both files exist (names match exactly, case included), the halo is active for that window. Nothing else is required; without them the extension stays completely inert.
When the halo appears
The active halo shows itself only at identification moments:
- when the window opens, until you click in the focused window;
- during Alt+Tab, while Alt is held;
- while the mouse rests on a Windows taskbar, where thumbnails preview;
- on a double-Shift (two Shift taps within 400 ms), until the next input;
- while the window is minimized, so its thumbnails keep the identity;
- while another window partially covers it, unless it is focused.
A focused window shows no halo outside these triggers.
One color with Peacock
Workspace Halo pairs with the
Peacock
extension: when the workspace has a Peacock color (a #rrggbb value of
peacock.color saved for that workspace), the halo border and name take that
exact color, so one hue identifies the workspace inside and around the
window. Otherwise workspaceHalo.color applies.
Everything else is in the wiki
Configuration and styling, differently named root folders, troubleshooting, building, publishing and signing, and the inner workings are documented in the wiki, organized on the Diátaxis model: explanation, tutorials, how-to guides, then reference.
Workspace Halo supports stable desktop VS Code on Windows 11. It is a UI extension, not intended for web VS Code, vscode.dev, or remote UIs on another operating system. License: MIT.