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Claude Code Issues / #73510

[Feature Request] "Open with external app" option for file links/attachments in chat

Open 💬 0 comments Opened Jul 2, 2026 by FScigliano93

Summary

When Claude Code (VS Code extension) outputs a clickable file link or attachment in the chat (e.g. a generated .html deck, a .pdf, an image, or a text file), clicking it currently opens the file inside VS Code's own editor/preview. There's no built-in way to open it in the OS default external application from that same context.

Problem

Some file types are much more useful to inspect in their native external app than inside VS Code:

  • .html decks/reports → rendering in an actual browser (fonts, JS, print CSS, etc. behave differently than VS Code's preview)
  • .txt/.md → sometimes preferred in Notepad++ for quick edits outside the workspace
  • .pdf, images → native OS viewers often render better/faster than the VS Code preview

Right now the only workaround is: right-click → "Copy Link" → paste into a browser/File Explorer manually. That's a few extra manual steps every time, especially when iterating on generated files during a session.

Proposed solution

Add an "Open with external app" (or "Reveal in File Explorer" / "Open externally") action to the context menu / hover actions on file links and attachments shown in the chat — similar to what VS Code's built-in file explorer already offers via "Reveal in File Explorer" or "Open with...".

Behavior:

  • Uses the OS-registered default application per file extension (e.g. .html → default browser, .pdf → default PDF reader, .txt → default text editor), same as double-clicking the file in Windows Explorer / Finder.
  • Should work for any file type referenced by Claude Code in the chat, not just HTML.
  • Ideally available as a right-click menu item alongside "Copy Link", not just a separate button, to minimize UI change.

Related

  • #70509 (Launch panel "Open in Browser" for dev-server preview configs) covers a related but distinct case — that one is about live localhost URLs from .claude/launch.json, this request is about static file links/attachments already on disk shown in the chat.

Environment

  • Claude Code VS Code extension
  • OS: Windows 11
  • Use case: reviewing/QA'ing HTML-based presentation decks generated during a session — need to see them rendered in an actual browser, not the VS Code preview pane.

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