quarto-dev / quarto-dev/quarto

YAML filename autocompletion in Positron

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enhancement
Dominant language
TypeScript
Stars
645
Forks
62
Avg merge
17h 42m
Merged PRs (30d)
13

Description

When editing an .R script or .qmd file Positron (like RStudio) has an autocomplete interface to help select files in your project folder/workspace.

Screenshot 2026-01-09 at 13 16 27

I was wondering whether it would be possible to enable something similar when editing Quarto YAML, as it would be rather useful to have this when editing _quarto.yml to list the chapters of a book for example.

Screenshot 2026-01-09 at 13 16 54

Aware of the globs but still think this would be useful in other parts of the YAML tree too, like sidebars/listings, theme/css, or include-before-body etc.

There is already YAML autocomplete support for keys and values. But admit that I don't know how difficult it would be to limit file autocompletion only under book: chapters: (and other relevant parts of the tree) since I can imagine having the file autocomplete turn up elsewhere when editing the YAML file could get very annoying. An alternative would be to activate the autocomplete/file lookup by a shortcut key.

Apologies if not the right repo (and if there's a shortcut key but I don't know it).

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First steps

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  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

The issue concerns existing YAML key and value autocomplete in Positron and _quarto.yml; start by locating the implementation of that autocomplete. Determine how file suggestions could be limited to relevant YAML tree locations or invoked by a shortcut, then verify that file completion appears in supported contexts without becoming noisy elsewhere.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
typescript
Domain
tooling
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
42/100

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