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🧠 Intelligent Autocomplete & Snippets

The Gherkin PowerTools supercharges your typing speed using two core mechanisms: Dynamic Step Autocomplete (IntelliSense) and Structural Snippets.

🚀 Smart Autocompletion (IntelliSense)

Tired of memorizing the exact wording of your Python step definitions? The extension automatically parses all @given, @when, and @then functions in your workspace and offers them as intelligent suggestions.

How it Works

  1. Instant Trigger: The moment you type a Gherkin keyword followed by a space (e.g. Given), the IntelliSense menu appears.
  2. Interactive Variables: If your Python step uses variables (like {username} or (?P<role>.*)), they are instantly transformed into VS Code Snippet Variables.
  3. Tab-to-Fill: Select the suggestion, and your cursor will automatically land on the first variable. Fill it in, hit Tab, and jump straight to the next one!

📊 Scenario Outline Parameter Autocompletion

When working within a Scenario Outline or Scenario Template, you frequently need to reference columns from the underlying Examples table using the <parameter> syntax.

How it works: 1. Inside a Scenario Outline, type < anywhere within a step. 2. The extension instantly scans downward, parses the Examples table, and extracts all column headers. 3. An IntelliSense dropdown appears with your exact table headers. 4. Select a header, and the extension automatically inserts the header name along with the closing bracket >.

⚡ Structural Snippets

Prefix Description Generated Structure
feature Standard Feature block Scaffolds a full Feature: with a Background: and a Scenario:
scenario Standard Scenario block Scaffolds a Scenario: with Given, When, and Then steps
outline Scenario Outline Scaffolds a Scenario Outline: with an Examples: table structure
rule Rule block Scaffolds a Rule: with a nested Scenario:

[!TIP] How to Trigger

  1. Open a .feature file.
  2. Type a snippet prefix (e.g., scenario).
  3. Press Tab or Enter to expand the block instantly.

🛠️ Example Expansion

Typing scenario + Tab generates the following scaffolding, automatically placing your cursor at the first variable placeholder:

Scenario: Scenario name
    Given precondition
    When action
    Then expected result

[!NOTE] Extensibility

You can easily extend the built-in snippets by creating your own custom workspace snippets in .vscode/gherkin.code-snippets.