File Change Follower

A VS Code extension that follows file changes in real-time, automatically opening editors and scrolling to edits as they happen. Perfect for watching CLI-based coding agents work.

Features

• Real-time file following: Automatically opens and scrolls to files as they're edited
• Change highlighting: Briefly highlights the lines that changed
• Status bar integration: See at a glance if follow mode is active, click to toggle
• Command palette: Quick access to enable, disable, or toggle follow mode
• Configurable patterns: Include or exclude files based on glob patterns
• Debounced updates: Prevents overwhelming the editor during rapid changes

Use Cases

• Watching coding agents: See exactly what GitHub Copilot CLI, aider, or other AI coding assistants are doing in real-time
• Pair programming: Follow along with changes made by a colleague
• Build watching: Monitor files as they're generated by build tools
• Log tailing: Watch log files update in real-time

Installation

From VS Code Marketplace

1. Open VS Code
2. Go to Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X)
3. Search for "File Change Follower"
4. Click Install

From VSIX

1. Download the .vsix file from Releases
2. In VS Code, open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P)
3. Run "Extensions: Install from VSIX..."
4. Select the downloaded file

Usage

Toggle Follow Mode

• Status Bar: Click the eye icon in the status bar
• Command Palette: Run "File Change Follower: Toggle Follow Mode" (Ctrl+Shift+P)

Commands

Status Bar

The status bar shows the current state:

• 👁️ Following - Follow mode is active (highlighted background)
• 👁️‍🗨️ Not Following - Follow mode is inactive

Click the status bar item to toggle the mode.

Configuration

Configure the extension in VS Code settings:

Example Settings

{
  "fileChangeFollower.enabled": false,
  "fileChangeFollower.includePatterns": ["src/**/*", "*.md"],
  "fileChangeFollower.excludePatterns": [
    "**/node_modules/**",
    "**/.git/**",
    "**/out/**"
  ],
  "fileChangeFollower.debounceMs": 150,
  "fileChangeFollower.highlightDuration": 2000
}

How It Works

When follow mode is enabled:

1. File watching: The extension monitors the workspace for file changes using VS Code's built-in file watcher
2. Text document changes: When an open document is edited, the extension captures the changed ranges
3. Debouncing: Rapid changes are debounced to prevent overwhelming the editor
4. Display: The most recently changed file is opened (without stealing focus from your terminal) and scrolled to show the changes
5. Highlighting: Changed lines are briefly highlighted using the diff editor colors

Requirements

• VS Code 1.85.0 or higher

Known Issues

• Very large files may experience slight delays when scrolling to changes
• Binary files are ignored

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see the GitHub repository for more information.

License

MIT - see LICENSE for details.