Watchtower for VS Code

Watchtower is a native VS Code extension for scanning and explicitly updating dependencies in the repository currently open in VS Code.

It is a local developer tool. It does not read Watchtower dashboard configuration, clone repositories, scan a fleet of projects, write history, send Telegram messages, or create pull requests.

Workflow

Open a Node.js repository in VS Code
        ↓
Watchtower: Scan Current Project
        ↓
Native tree shows security issues, updates, deprecations, and workspaces
        ↓
Right-click one dependency → Update Dependency
        ↓
Choose a stable version and confirm
        ↓
Package manager updates the selected workspace
        ↓
Watchtower rescans and refreshes the tree

The extension supports repositories detected as pnpm or npm projects. It discovers monorepos from pnpm-workspace.yaml or package.json workspaces.

Version selection

Watchtower fetches version metadata for only the dependency you select. The picker includes stable releases only and highlights:

• ● the installed resolved version
• 🛡 an available fixed version for a reported vulnerability
• ★ the latest stable version

Prereleases such as alpha, beta, canary, and release-candidate versions are excluded.

Development

From the Watchtower repository root:

pnpm build:vscode
pnpm check:vscode

To run it in VS Code during development, open this repository, launch the apps/vscode extension host configuration, then open a Node.js project in the Extension Development Host window.