Open a project folder

Open a project folder in Visual Studio Code — with the four heights of help laid out: do it now, make it easier for the next person to accept, work out the right move when you are stuck, and learn the pattern so it stops coming back.

4prompt heights
Open it in the interactive atlas →

The four heights

The same task, four distances: today's deadline, the next reviewer, the stuck moment, the pattern.

Execute — do the immediate task

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I need this project folder open in the editor so I can run and debug the app. Open the folder at…
I need this project folder open in the editor so I can run and debug the app. Open the folder at C:\Users\Maya\Projects\inventory-service, make sure the workspace shows package.json and src, and confirm the integrated terminal's CWD is the project root before I run npm start on Friday.

Improve — make it easier to accept

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Before I open the folder for a teammate review, make the important files visible: show…
Before I open the folder for a teammate review, make the important files visible: show package.json, README.md, and src/index.js at the top of the explorer, collapse node_modules, and surface any .env.example so reviewers immediately see setup steps and run commands.

Decide — diagnose the stuck moment

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I tried to open C:\Users\Maya\Projects\inventory-service and the explorer stayed empty. Maya on the…

I clicked a folder in the file dialog and it didn't load the project tree.

I tried to open C:\Users\Maya\Projects\inventory-service and the explorer stayed empty. Maya on the team needs to run the app this afternoon; I'm not sure if the folder path is wrong, the workspace file is missing, or the editor failed to pick it up. What's the most likely cause and the fastest next step I should take to verify and fix it?

Become — change the pattern

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Every sprint I reopen C:\Users\Maya\Projects\inventory-service and reconfigure the terminal and…

I keep reopening the same project folder every sprint.

Every sprint I reopen C:\Users\Maya\Projects\inventory-service and reconfigure the terminal and explorer layout. It's costing me ten minutes each time and breaks my run flow. Which habit or small setup change will prevent this friction—one that I can apply now and keep using across projects?

Next to this one

Other code editor work people do in Visual Studio Code.

Every task here came from the work, not from a feature list — which is why the prompts name what you want done and never the button that does it. The tool changes; the work does not.
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The rest of the map

Same library, five ways in.