Visual Studio Code has now improved their tab-UI to resolve this issue.
When you've opened multiple tabs with the same filename, Visual Studio Code will automatically display the parent foldername in each of those tabs.
Here's an example: I've opened event.js and two index.js files. Visual Studio Code automatically decides it's a good idea to display the foldername for the index.js files :)
You can configure Visual Studio Code to always show parent folder names in the tabs! In your User Settings, just add this line: "workbench.editor.labelFormat": "short" (other values are "long", "medium" or "default")
Result: the files init/views.js, init/routes.js and plugins/modal.js will be presented as such:
Another option is the User Setting "breadcrumbs.enabled": true which will give you an entire row of breadcrumbs showing the complete file path:
PS: To open User Settings use the File-menu → Preferences → Settings → User Settings. To view the settings in a JSON format just click the {} icon in the top right corner.
I've created a simple Visual Studio Code plugin which accepts a list of regexes and colors and changes the titleBar/tabColor based on them. It's great for working on mono repositories or large projects with multiple packages (like Lerna, or React + React Native).
Controls the window title based on the active editor. Variables are substituted based on the context:
${activeEditorShort}: the file name (e.g. myFile.txt).
${activeEditorMedium}: the path of the file relative to the workspace folder (e.g. myFolder/myFileFolder/myFile.txt).
${activeEditorLong}: the full path of the file (e.g. /Users/Development/myFolder/myFileFolder/myFile.txt).
${activeFolderShort}: the name of the folder the file is contained in (e.g. myFileFolder).
${activeFolderMedium}: the path of the folder the file is contained in, relative to the workspace folder (e.g. myFolder/myFileFolder).
${activeFolderLong}: the full path of the folder the file is contained in (e.g. /Users/Development/myFolder/myFileFolder).
${folderName}: name of the workspace folder the file is contained in (e.g. myFolder).
${folderPath}: file path of the workspace folder the file is contained in (e.g. /Users/Development/myFolder).
${rootName}: name of the opened workspace or folder (e.g. myFolder or myWorkspace).
${rootPath}: file path of the opened workspace or folder (e.g. /Users/Development/myWorkspace).
${appName}: e.g. VS Code.
${remoteName}: e.g. SSH
${dirty}: a dirty indicator if the active editor is dirty.
${separator}: a conditional separator (" - ") that only shows when surrounded by variables with values or static text.
You can install the nice-index extension for a better experience dealing with index files.
However, as of now, it only works when you have more than one index file open. This can be resolved by changing labelFormat to "short", as other answers suggest.