Get Active Editor

The getActiveEditor action retrieves information about the currently active editor in the host IDE, including file paths, language, cursor/selection position, and optionally the full file content.

import { getActiveEditor } from '@unextension/bridge'

---

getActiveEditor(options?)

Returns information about the currently active editor, or null if no editor is open.

const editor = await getActiveEditor()
if (editor) {
  console.log(editor.relativePath) // 'src/index.ts'
  console.log(editor.language) // 'typescript'
  console.log(editor.startLine, editor.startColumn) // cursor position
}

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
options	GetActiveEditorOptions	Optional configuration

GetActiveEditorOptions

Option	Type	Default	Description
includeContent	boolean	false	When true, includes the full file text in the result

Return value

Promise<GetActiveEditorResult | null>

Returns null when no editor is currently open in the IDE.

---

GetActiveEditorResult

Field	Type	Required	Description
relativePath	string	Yes	File path relative to the project root
absolutePath	string	Yes	Full filesystem path of the active file
language	string	Yes	Language identifier as reported by the IDE (e.g. typescript)
startLine	number	Yes	Start line of cursor or selection (0-indexed)
startColumn	number	Yes	Start column of cursor or selection (0-indexed)
endLine	number	Yes	End line of cursor or selection (0-indexed)
endColumn	number	Yes	End column of cursor or selection (0-indexed)
selection	string	No	Selected text (only present when text is selected)
content	string	No	Full file content (only present when includeContent is true)

---

Usage examples

Basic call

const editor = await getActiveEditor()

if (editor) {
  console.log(`File: ${editor.relativePath}`)
  console.log(`Language: ${editor.language}`)
  console.log(`Cursor: line ${editor.startLine}, column ${editor.startColumn}`)
} else {
  console.log('No editor is open')
}

With file content

const editor = await getActiveEditor({ includeContent: true })

if (editor) {
  console.log(`File: ${editor.relativePath}`)
  console.log(`Content length: ${editor.content?.length} chars`)
}

Reading a selection

When the user has text selected, startLine/startColumn and endLine/endColumn define the selection range, and the selection field contains the selected text:

const editor = await getActiveEditor()

if (editor?.selection) {
  console.log(`Selected: "${editor.selection}"`)
  console.log(
    `From ${editor.startLine}:${editor.startColumn} to ${editor.endLine}:${editor.endColumn}`,
  )
}

When no text is selected, startLine === endLine and startColumn === endColumn, representing the cursor position. The selection field is not present.

---

Null return

getActiveEditor returns null when no editor is currently open in the IDE. Always check for null before accessing result fields:

const editor = await getActiveEditor()

if (!editor) {
  // No editor is open — handle the empty state
  return
}

// Safe to use editor fields here
console.log(editor.relativePath)

---

Types

All types are exported from @unextension/bridge:

import type { GetActiveEditorOptions, GetActiveEditorResult } from '@unextension/bridge'

GetActiveEditorOptions

interface GetActiveEditorOptions {
  includeContent?: boolean
}

GetActiveEditorResult

interface GetActiveEditorResult {
  relativePath: string
  absolutePath: string
  language: string
  startLine: number
  startColumn: number
  endLine: number
  endColumn: number
  selection?: string
  content?: string
}