Command Explorer

The essential tool for Visual Studio extension authors. Explore every command, menu, toolbar, and key binding in Visual Studio — and find the exact GUIDs, IDs, and placement hierarchy you need for your .vsct files.

Download from the Visual Studio Marketplace or get the CI build.

Why you need this

If you've ever written a Visual Studio extension, you've hit this wall: "Where do I place my command? What's the GUID and ID of that menu group?" The answers are buried across dozens of documentation pages, header files, and SDK constants.

Command Explorer puts it all in one searchable tool window.

• 🔍 Search thousands of commands by name, GUID, ID, or key binding
• 🏗️ See the full menu hierarchy — know exactly where a command lives
• 📋 Copy VSCT symbols with one click — ready to paste into your .vsct file
• 🎯 Inspect mode — point at any menu item in VS to instantly look it up
• 📦 Identify the owner — see which package registered each command

Getting started

Open the tool window from View → Other Windows → Command Explorer.

Features

Search and filter

Type in the search box to instantly filter commands. You can search by:

• Command name — e.g. Edit.Copy, File.SaveAll
• GUID — with or without braces/dashes
• ID — decimal (258) or hex (0x102)
• Key binding — e.g. Ctrl+S

Command details

Select any command to see its full details:

Field	Description
Display name	The localized name shown in menus
Owner	The VS package that registered the command
GUID	The command set GUID, with known symbol names (e.g. guidVSStd97)
ID	Numeric ID in hex and decimal, with known enum names (e.g. cmdidCopy)
Button text	The text shown on the button/menu item
Key bindings	All keyboard shortcuts with their scope

Menu hierarchy

The hierarchy tree shows every place a command appears in the Visual Studio UI — menus, toolbars, and context menus — with the full parent chain and GUID:ID pairs at each level.

This is exactly what you need to fill in the <Parent> element in your .vsct files.

Copy VSCT symbols

Right-click any node in the hierarchy tree and select Copy VSCT Symbols to get a ready-to-paste snippet:

<GuidSymbol name="guidVSStd97" value="{5efc7975-14bc-11cf-9b2b-00aa00573819}">
  <IDSymbol name="cmdidCopy" value="0x000f" />
</GuidSymbol>

Inspect mode

Check the Inspect mode checkbox, then hold Ctrl+Shift and click any command in any menu or toolbar. Command Explorer will instantly jump to that command and show its details.

This is the fastest way to answer "What is the GUID:ID of the thing I just clicked?"

Use cases

• Placing commands: Find the right group GUID and ID to parent your buttons and menu items
• Key binding conflicts: Look up what's already bound to a shortcut before you claim it
• Debugging visibility: Verify that your command is registered and find it by name or ID
• Learning the command table: Browse what's available and discover commands you didn't know existed

License

Apache 2.0