Hide Files on GitHub for Chrome

If you’re reading this, then it’s almost certain that you know what GitHub is. The repository hosting/version control service is without a doubt a lot more user-friendly than the distributed version-control system it is based on, Git, however, that’s not to say that its GUI could not be better.

Over the years, various solutions that allow users to increase their productivity and improve the way they interact with GitHub. Tools such as Refined GitHub and GitHub Notifier are very good examples of browser extensions that can do just that.

Coming from the same developer as the aforementioned extensions, Hide Files on GitHub is a very interesting browser extension (in this case, we are talking about the Chrome version) that allows you to “declutter” GitHub repositories by hiding nonessential files.

Better yet, the extension is quite versatile and it also allows you to fully customize which type of files to hide. To do that, simply access the extension’s minimalist Options menu by clicking the icon from Chrome’s toolbar.

The Options menu provides two predefined configurations, one that shows all the nonessential files, and one that hides .editorconfig, .gitignore, and license elements. Of course, you can set up the extension to hide other types of elements and directories (such as root and non-root ones) using regular expressions in the list from the lower part of the GUI.

While it’s quite clear that this tool will not appeal to most day-to-day GitHub users, it will undoubtedly prove invaluable for power users who will appreciate the extension’s efficiency and just how unobtrusive it really is.

To conclude, Hide Files on GitHub for Chrome is the perfect extension to complete your collection of tools that improve GitHub’s GUI. It’s lightweight, very unobtrusive, and offers enough configuration options to keep everyone happy.