Ticker

Ticker is a security-first VS Code extension that helps you investigate Azure Application Insights / Azure Monitor Logs directly inside VS Code.

It is designed for on-call / debugging workflows:

• Search-like Log Explorer (exceptions, traces, requests, dependencies)
• Click any event to open an Event Details view
• A bounded “related telemetry” view using operation_Id
• “Ask Copilot / GHC” action that opens GitHub Copilot Chat with a sanitized, user-approved prompt
• A lightweight Dashboard view to run read-only KQL widgets

Requirements

• VS Code >= 1.109
• Azure access: you must have RBAC permissions to query the target Log Analytics workspace / Application Insights (workspace-backed)
• Optional: GitHub Copilot (only needed if you want to use the “Ask Copilot / GHC” action)

Quick start

1. Run Ticker: Sign In
2. Run Ticker: Add App Insights Target
   • Provide a display name
   • Provide a target identifier:
     • A Log Analytics workspace id (Customer ID GUID), or
     • An Azure resourceId starting with /subscriptions/...
3. Run Ticker: Open Log Explorer
4. Use filters + “Search” to view results (first 100). Click “Next 100” to append more.

Log Explorer

• Filter by time range + item types + optional fields
• Results show up to 100 rows initially
• “Next 100” fetches and appends the next page
• Selecting a row shows Event Details, including:
  • important base fields
  • full customDimensions (when available)
  • call stack (when available)
  • related telemetry (bounded) using operation_Id

Run KQL

You can run custom KQL in the KQL panel:

• First run returns up to 100 results
• “Next 100” fetches and appends the next page
• Counts reflect totals across the full result set (not just displayed rows)

Dashboard

Open Ticker: Open Dashboard to create and view widgets backed by read-only KQL queries. Dashboard configuration is stored in VS Code settings; query results are not persisted.

Commands

• Ticker: Sign In
• Ticker: Add App Insights Target
• Ticker: Open Log Explorer
• Ticker: Open Dashboard
• Ticker: Add Dashboard Widget
• Ticker: Refresh Dashboard

Settings

Ticker contributes these settings:

• ticker.targets: list of configured targets
• ticker.dashboard.widgets: dashboard widgets (configuration only)
• ticker.dashboard.widgetsByTarget: dashboard widgets keyed by target id
• ticker.ui.lastTargetId: remembers your last selected target in the UI

Security notes

• Uses VS Code’s Microsoft authentication provider (no secrets, no API keys)
• Read-only queries only
• RBAC is enforced by Azure
• “Ask Copilot / GHC” requires explicit user action and shows a user-approved prompt; content is redacted and bounded

Troubleshooting

• 403 Forbidden: you likely don’t have access. Ask your admin for a role like Monitoring Reader on the workspace/resource.
• 401 Unauthorized: your sign-in may have expired. Run Ticker: Sign In again.

Feedback

Repo: https://github.com/daiviknaagar_microsoft/Ticker