From Claude AI

Here are some powerful built-in tools that can dramatically speed up your development workflow:

VS Code Power Tools

  1. Refactoring Tools
    • F2 - Rename symbol across all files
    • Right-click > “Refactor…” - Access context-specific refactoring options
    • Ctrl+. or Cmd+. - Quick Fix menu for automated fixes and refactorings
  2. Code Navigation
    • F12 - Go to definition
    • Alt+F12 - Peek definition without leaving current file
    • Shift+F12 - Find all references
  3. Multi-Cursor Editing
    • Alt+Click - Add additional cursors
    • Ctrl+D / Cmd+D - Select next occurrence of current selection
    • Alt+Shift+I - Add cursor at the end of each selected line
  4. Workspace Search
    • Ctrl+Shift+F / Cmd+Shift+F - Search across all files
    • Ctrl+Shift+H / Cmd+Shift+H - Replace across all files

Git Integration

  1. Built-in Git Tools
    • Source Control tab (Git icon) - Stage, commit, push without CLI
    • Timeline view - See file history visually
    • Gutter blame annotations - See who wrote each line
  2. Git Extensions
    • GitLens - Enhanced Git capabilities
    • Git History - Visual commit history

Database Tools

  1. SQL Extensions
    • “SQLTools” extension - Database connections within VS Code
    • “Database Client” - Manage DBs without external software

API Development

  1. REST Client Extension
    • Create .http files to save and run API requests
    • Much faster than Postman for simple testing
  2. Thunder Client
    • Lightweight API client built into VS Code

Python-Specific

  1. Jupyter Notebook Integration
    • Run notebooks directly in VS Code
  2. Python Refactoring
    • Extract method/variable
    • Generate docstrings with type hints

FastAPI Tools

  1. FastAPI Interactive Docs
    • Built-in Swagger UI at /docs endpoint
    • Test endpoints without external tools
  2. FastAPI Snippets Extension
    • Quick templates for common patterns

Auto-Generation Tools

  1. Copilot & Ghostwriter
    • Use these for boilerplate code generation
  2. Scaffold Extensions
    • “FastAPI Generator” - Create FastAPI project structures
    • “Python Project Generator” - Create scaffolding

Terminal Integration

  1. Integrated Terminal
    • Ctrl+ ` - Toggle terminal
    • Multi-terminal support with tabs

Automation

  1. Task Runners
    • Define repetitive tasks in .vscode/tasks.json
    • Run with Ctrl+Shift+B
  2. Launch Configurations
    • Debug setups in .vscode/launch.json

These tools are often more efficient than having AI write custom solutions from scratch, especially for standardized operations like refactoring, search/replace, and project setup.

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