Developers lose their place while navigating code in editors
Developers report friction finding structure and keeping their place while moving through code, especially in large files and collapsed regions. Requests include better section outlines, folding behavior, and symbol navigation; existing editor behavior is described as confusing, missing, or inconsistent. A focused editor extension could improve a few related navigation tasks, but it would not replace language servers or fix every IDE performance and debugging problem in these signals.
For developers navigating large or structurally complex codebases. Mentioned from Jan 2017 to May 2026 on GitHub and Hacker News.
16 different people described this problem in 15 separate discussions.
- Indie fit
- 3.0/10
- Pain
- 5.5/10
- Frequency
- 10.0/10
- Willingness to pay
- 0.0/10
- Momentum
- 5.0/10
- Who pays
- Professionals
- Competition
- High
- Build difficulty
- Medium
What people said
Quoted word for word. Follow a link to read the whole discussion.
As a user of both R and Python, I found it very inconvenient that in .py file, I can't mark sections and navigate within my code as I do in .R within vscode
I always confused that collapsed tree of outliner is again opened and user must collapse, find right class and the functions inside if big file
See what to build and who will buy it
- 1 product idea with the smallest useful version and pricing
- 4 places to find your first customers
- 14 more quotes from people who have this problem
- Current workarounds, existing solutions and risks