CodePulse — Track Your Real Coding Time

A beautiful, minimal VS Code extension that tracks your real coding time with active typing detection, streaks, personal bests, and zero cloud telemetry.

🎯 What Makes This Different

CodePulse uses a smart pause detection algorithm instead of tracking idle time like traditional tools (WakaTime, Wakatime). Here's how it works:

Only counts actual typing: A 10-second pause (configurable) marks the end of a coding session
Ignores distractions: Reading code, debugging, testing—none of that counts unless you're typing
No network calls: Everything is stored locally in VS Code's globalState
No telemetry: Your data never leaves your machine
Personal streaks: Build consecutive day streaks with freeze protection
Personal records: Track your coding velocity (chars/words/lines per day)

The result? Honest metrics that motivate without guilt-tripping.

✨ Features

Real-Time Dashboard

Today's Stats: Active time, words typed, characters, lines, files touched
Progress Bar: Visual goal tracking (default: 60 minutes/day)
Weekly Chart: Bar chart showing last 7 days of activity + goal line
Personal Bests: Best day, longest streak, fastest session
Language Breakdown: See which languages you coded in this week
Language-aware Metrics: Automatic tracking by file type

Streaks & Motivation

Current Streak: Build consecutive day streaks
Longest Streak: Personal record for streak length
Freeze System: 2 free strikes per week when you miss a day (auto-replenish every 7 days)
Notifications: Alerts when you hit records or freeze is consumed
Zero Days Protected: Never lose your streak to a busy day

Status Bar Integration

Live Updates: See active time + word count in the status bar (updates every second)
Goal Indicator: Icon changes when you hit your daily goal ✅
One-Click Dashboard: Open full dashboard from status bar

Privacy-First

100% local storage (globalState only)
No network requests ever
No analytics, no tracking pixels, no cloud sync
Data export: Download your stats as JSON anytime
Retention: Auto-deletes sessions older than 90 days

📦 Installation

From VS Code Marketplace (coming soon)

Search for "CodePulse" in the Extensions panel
Click Install

Manual Installation (Development)

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/codepulse
cd codepulse
npm install
npm run compile

Then in VS Code:

Ctrl+Shift+P → "Developer: Install Extension from Location"
Select the codepulse folder

🚀 How to Use

Start Tracking

The extension activates automatically on startup. Just start coding!

Open Dashboard

Command: CodePulse: Open Dashboard
Or click 🔥 in the status bar (right side)

Configure Goals

Open the dashboard
Click the ⚙️ settings icon
Set your daily goal (default: 60 minutes)
Adjust pause threshold (5-30 seconds, default: 10s)
Click Save Settings

Commands

CodePulse: Open Dashboard — Open the full dashboard
CodePulse: Reset Today's Stats — Clear today's data
CodePulse: Pause/Resume Tracking — Disable/enable tracking
CodePulse: Export Stats as JSON — Download your data

Configuration (settings.json)

{
  "codepulse.dailyGoalMinutes": 60,
  "codepulse.pauseThresholdSeconds": 10,
  "codepulse.enableStreakFreeze": true,
  "codepulse.showWordsInStatusBar": true
}

🔥 How Streaks Work

Building a Streak

A day counts toward your streak when:

Total active typing time ≥ your daily goal (default: 60 minutes)
Tracked consecutive days

Missing a Day

When you miss a goal, CodePulse checks if you have a freeze:

Freeze Available? Your streak is protected + notification sent
No Freezes? Streak resets to 0 (clean slate)

Freeze Replenishment

Start with 2 freezes per week
After 7 days, you earn 1 more freeze (max 2)
Replenishment auto-triggers at midnight

Example

Mon - Goal hit → Streak: 1
Tue - Goal hit → Streak: 2
Wed - Missed!  → Freeze used → Streak: 2 (protected)
Thu - Goal hit → Streak: 3
Fri - Goal hit → Streak: 4

📊 Dashboard Layout

Today Card

Active time progress vs daily goal
Words, characters, lines typed
Files touched today

Weekly Chart

Last 7 days of active time (minutes)
Goal line overlay
Color coding: Green (goal hit), amber (partial), grey (zero)

Streak Status

Current streak (days)
Freezes remaining
Total days active

Personal Records

Most words in a day
Most characters in a day
Longest streak ever
Longest single session

Language Breakdown

Top 5 languages by active time (this week)
Time spent in each language

🔒 Privacy & Security

No Cloud Sync

All data stored in globalState (VS Code's local encrypted storage)
No third-party servers
No credentials required

Data Export

Download stats as JSON: CodePulse: Export Stats as JSON
Import/backup manually
Format matches internal storage schema

Data Retention

Automatically deletes sessions older than 90 days
Keeps aggregated stats longer (optional future feature)
Manual deletion anytime via Reset Today's Stats

CSP & Safety

Webview uses strict Content Security Policy
No inline scripts, only nonce-protected code
Chart.js loaded from CDN (pinned version)

🤝 Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please:

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/my-feature
Commit changes: git commit -am 'Add feature'
Push branch: git push origin feature/my-feature
Open a Pull Request

Development Setup

npm install
npm run compile       # Build & typecheck
npm run watch        # Watch mode (auto-recompile)
npm run test         # Run tests
npm run lint         # Run ESLint
npm run format       # Auto-format with Prettier

Testing

npm run test              # Run all tests
npm run test:ui          # Interactive UI

Building for Publication

npm run vscode:prepublish
vsce package
vsce publish

🛠️ Tech Stack

Language: TypeScript (strict mode)
Runtime: VS Code Extension API v1.85+
Storage: vscode.ExtensionContext.globalState
UI: Webview (HTML + CSS + Vanilla JS)
Charts: Chart.js 4.x
Bundler: esbuild
Testing: Vitest
Linting: ESLint + Prettier

📋 Project Structure

codepulse/
├── src/
│   ├── extension.ts              # Extension entry point
│   ├── core/
│   │   ├── SessionEngine.ts      # Debounce + session logic
│   │   ├── DeltaCalculator.ts    # Track char/word/line deltas
│   │   ├── StatsAggregator.ts    # Aggregate sessions into stats
│   │   ├── StreakManager.ts      # Streak + freeze logic
│   │   └── RecordKeeper.ts       # Personal records tracking
│   ├── storage/
│   │   └── StorageManager.ts     # globalState persistence
│   ├── ui/
│   │   ├── StatusBarItem.ts      # Status bar display
│   │   ├── DashboardPanel.ts     # Webview panel controller
│   │   └── webview/
│   │       ├── dashboard.html    # Dashboard markup
│   │       ├── dashboard.css     # Dashboard styles
│   │       └── dashboard.js      # Dashboard interactivity
│   ├── models/
│   │   └── types.ts              # TypeScript interfaces
│   └── utils/
│       ├── timeUtils.ts          # Date helpers
│       └── textUtils.ts          # Text analysis
├── tests/
│   ├── SessionEngine.test.ts
│   ├── StreakManager.test.ts
│   ├── DeltaCalculator.test.ts
│   └── StatsAggregator.test.ts
├── package.json
├── tsconfig.json
├── esbuild.config.js
├── .eslintrc.json
├── .prettierrc
└── README.md

🎨 Customization

Themes

CodePulse respects VS Code's light/dark theme. Colors adapt automatically based on:

--vscode-editor-background
--vscode-editor-foreground
--vscode-button-background
Other VS Code CSS variables

Status Bar Icon

Change the emoji/icon in src/ui/StatusBarItem.ts:

const icon = goal.goalHit ? '✅' : isActive ? '⚡' : '💤';

📝 License

See LICENSE for details.

🐞 Troubleshooting

Extension Won't Activate

Check: CodePulse: Open Dashboard command visible?
Verify: Extension installed correctly (Extensions panel)
Try: Reload window (Ctrl+R on Windows/Linux, Cmd+R on Mac)

Stats Not Updating

Check: Editor is active (text changes are tracked)
Try: Type a character to trigger session start
View: Output channel "CodePulse" for debug info

Dashboard Won't Open

Try: Restart VS Code
Check: WebView CSP not blocking (dev console should be clean)
Run: Developer: Toggle Developer Tools

Performance Issues

Disable other extensions temporarily
Clear extension cache: rm -r ~/.vscode/extensions/codepulse*
Reinstall: npm run compile, reload window

📞 Support

Issues: GitHub Issues (coming soon)
Discussions: GitHub Discussions
Feedback: Open an issue with [Feature Request] label

Happy coding! Build those streaks. Track your velocity. Own your productivity.

🔥 CodePulse: Real Time. Real Coding.

CodeKaSamay

Arpit Shukla