Searching for extensions consistently provides terrible results. This experience is the same every time I search for extensions, but 2 specific example screenshots are attached:.
Searching for “rojo” returns 15 results. Only 2 of them have “rojo” anywhere in their title or description. The other 13 are completely unrelated junk.
Searching for “roblox” returns 38 results. Only 5 of them are relevant, with the other 33 being unrelated junk.
I tried adding quotes to the search in an attempt to disable typo/synonym “fuzzy” matching, but the results were identical.
Steps to Reproduce
Search for “roblox”.
Notice 87% of results are completely unrelated.
Expected Behavior
Searching for “roblox” should result in only extensions explicitly mentioning “roblox” in their title or description.
Using quotes should be treated as an exact match only, preventing “fuzzy” matching for typos, synonyms, etc.
Hey, thanks for the report and screenshots. I can see the issue. Marketplace search is currently prioritizing popular extensions too much instead of matching the request, so niche requests like rojo or roblox get filled with irrelevant results.
This is a known issue, and there are similar complaints on the forum.
As a workaround, you can search by the full extension ID, for example evaera.vscode-rojo, or install via the Command Palette with ext install evaera.vscode-rojo. It’s not ideal, but it works if you know what you’re looking for.
This is a known issue, and there are similar complaints on the forum.
Sorry for that. I did look for an existing issue, but couldn’t find any relevant results. Is there a plan to address the issue?
Marketplace search is currently prioritizing popular extensions
But, why are they returned at all? Increasing result rank based on popularity is one thing, but these extensions are obviously not relevant to my search. Popularity does not matter one iota if the result is not relevant.
It’s not ideal, but it works if you know what you’re looking for.
Unfortunately, I don’t know what I’m looking for, which is why I doing a search for available extensions. Finding useful hits is very challenging when 87% of results are not relevant.
niche requests like rojo or roblox get filled with irrelevant results.
I observe the exact same behavior for non-niche requests as well. For example, finding an actual dotnet LSP the other day was also quite challanging. If anything it’s worse, because you have to manually filter though pages and pages of results to get a usable short list of potentially useful extensions.
