eclipse-theia/theia

files.exclude working differently compared to vscode

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#17,670 opened on Jun 17, 2026

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Description

Bug Description:

files.exclude is picking up non-workspace root folders when it shouldn't be.

Steps to Reproduce:

  1. Create the following folder structure
dist
src
 |- dist
  1. create a settings.json for
"files.exclude":{ 
    "dist":true 
}

Both dist and src/dist are excluded in Theia, while vscode only excludes dist

This makes it hard to exclude workspace root level folders and not exclude others with same name.

The same applies to:

"files.exclude":{ 
    "*/dist":true 
}

In vscode, that would exclude src/dist while leaving dist, but it doesn't work at all in Theia

Additional Information

  • Operating System:
  • Theia Version:

Contributor guide

Research direction
Investigate the files.exclude pattern matching implementation in Theia's workspace service and compare with VS Code's behavior. Look for the code that handles exclusion patterns, likely in the filesystem or preferences module.
Tech stack
typescript
Domain
developer experience
Issue type
Bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
2
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
Half day
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Active
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
TypeScriptGit
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
65