A Visual Studio Code extension that answers the question "why does this file or code exist?" by surfacing git history, blame information, and linked GitHub issues/PRs in a single side panel — on demand.
Features
File history — see every commit that touched the current file, with author, date, and message.
Git blame — view line-by-line blame for the whole file or just a selected range.
GitHub issue & PR enrichment — commit messages containing #123-style references are automatically resolved to issue/PR titles, state, and links (requires a GitHub token).
Inline diff viewer — click any commit in the panel to open a side-by-side diff of that change directly in VS Code.
Selection-aware — highlight a block of lines and run the command to scope history and blame to only those lines.
Follows renames — uses git log --follow so history survives file renames.
Usage
On a file (Explorer or editor)
Right-click any file in the Explorer panel or inside the editor and choose Why Does This Exist?
This opens the history panel beside your current editor, showing all commits that modified the file.
On a selection (editor)
Select one or more lines in the editor, then right-click and choose Why Does This Exist? (Selection)
The panel will show blame and history scoped to the selected line range.
Command Palette
You can also run either command from the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P / Ctrl+Shift+P):
Command
Description
WhyExists: Why Does This Exist?
Explain the active file
WhyExists: Why Does This Exist? (Selection)
Explain the current selection
Extension Settings
Setting
Type
Default
Description
whyExists.githubToken
string
""
GitHub Personal Access Token for fetching PR and issue details. Optional — history and blame work without it.
whyExists.maxCommits
number
20
Maximum number of commits to load in the history panel.
Setting up a GitHub Token (optional)
To enable PR/issue enrichment:
Go to GitHub → Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens.
Generate a token with the repo scope (or public_repo for public repositories only).
Open VS Code Settings (Cmd+,) and search for whyExists.githubToken.
Paste your token.
Requirements
The file must be inside a git repository.
VS Code 1.85.0 or newer.
GitHub integration requires a valid Personal Access Token with repository read access.
