Peacock - Choose What to Color
Tags: vscode, javascript, fun
Published: 2019-02-24 04:45:13

---
title: Peacock - Choose What to Color
published: true
description: Visually identify different VS Code instances with colors that you select
tags: vscode, javascript, fun
cover_image: https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/b6f462wg5xd7ca5mmvat.jpg
---

Last Week I released [Peacock](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=johnpapa.vscode-peacock&wt.mc_id=devto-blog-jopapa), which solves a problem I had: quickly and visually differentiating between VS Code instances. Yeah, I usually have many of them open for multiple unrelated projects. Not to mention that I also use VS Code to write articles (like this one), take notes, and edit just about everything.

{% link john_papa/peacock---late-night-coding-ftw-3pk0 %}

When I announced it, it seemed to go over well (thanks for the support). I received several good suggestions/requests via Twitter and GitHub. So I decided to add a few of them.

## What's New

Here are the new features: (or you can check out the [CHANGELOG.md](https://github.com/johnpapa/vscode-peacock/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md))

The biggest new features are ...

1. you can reset (aka clear) all colors that Peacock sets in the workspace.

2. you can tell Peacock which parts of VS Code will be affected by when you select a color. You can do this by setting the property `peacock.affectedSettings` to one or more of the valid values below.

```javascript
// Valid settings you can choose to be affected
"peacock.affectedSettings": [
    "activityBar",
    "statusBar",
    "titleBar"
  ]
```

So you can choose to affect just one of those, two of them or all three of them. You do you!

{% twitter 1099531106083328001 %}


## Credits Redux

I also want once again thank [@josephrexme](https://twitter.com/josephrexme) for the name and icon for Peacock and to the VS Code team and their incredibly [helpful guide for creating extensions](https://code.visualstudio.com/api/get-started/your-first-extension?wt.mc_id=devto-blog-jopapa)

## Get Peacock

If you have Peacock and want the update to v0.0.7, VS Code will prompt you soon.

If you are interested in trying out Peacock, you can [find it here in the marketplace](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=johnpapa.vscode-peacock&wt.mc_id=devto-blog-jopapa). It is currently in preview, which means there may be dragons ahead.

- Get the extension [here](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=johnpapa.vscode-peacock&wt.mc_id=devto-blog-jopapa)
- Contribute to GitHub repository [here](https://github.com/johnpapa/vscode-peacock?wt.mc_id=devto-blog-jopapa)

[![peacock icon](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/b4fq4z43mjx8q6mpip59.png)](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=johnpapa.vscode-peacock&wt.mc_id=devto-blog-jopapa)

Worst case, this extension is just something I'll use, and that's OK. But if you like it too, please give it a try and submit feedback in GitHub. You can [open issues](https://github.com/johnpapa/vscode-peacock/issues?wt.mc_id=devto-blog-jopapa) or grab an [open issue](https://github.com/johnpapa/vscode-peacock/issues?wt.mc_id=devto-blog-jopapa) and help contribute.

Thanks!