📦 Python Package Visualizer

A VS Code extension to visualize, manage and audit Python workspace dependencies — with version checks, CVE security badges, unused package detection, dependency graph, and one-click updates.

✨ Features

🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• VS Code 1.85.0 or newer
• Python installed and accessible (or a virtual environment)
• A Python project with one of:
  • requirements.txt
  • pyproject.toml
  • setup.py

Installation

1. Open VS Code
2. Go to Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X)
3. Search for Python Package Visualizer
4. Click Install

Or install from the VS Code Marketplace.

📖 How to Use

Opening the Visualizer

Option 1 — Activity Bar Click the 📦 icon in the left Activity Bar to open the sidebar, then click ▶ Open Package Visualizer.

Option 2 — Command Palette Press Ctrl+Shift+P and type Show Package Visualizer.

Option 3 — Command Run Python Package Visualizer: Show from the command palette.

Package List Tab

The main view shows all packages found in your requirements files.

Sorting: Click any column header to sort. Click again to reverse.

Filtering:

• Use the search bar to filter by package name or description
• Use the All statuses dropdown to show only specific statuses
• Use the All groups dropdown to filter by group (main, dev, test, docs)

Inline badges:

• ⊘ unused? — package is not imported anywhere in the project
• 🔴 CVE — one or more known vulnerabilities found

Actions

Update a Package

Click ⬆ Update on any row with an available update. The package is updated via pip and the version pin in your requirements file is synced automatically.

Rollback a Package

Click ↩ Rollback to revert to the previous version. Only available if the package has version history.

Install a Package

Click ⬇ Install on any row with status Not installed.

Remove from Requirements

Click 🗑 Remove on any row marked as unused?. This removes the package line from its requirements file after confirmation. The package itself is not uninstalled from your environment.

Update All

Click ⬆ Update All (n) in the header to update all outdated packages in one go.

Add Package

Click + Add Package in the header to open the install dialog.

1. Type a package name (e.g. requests, numpy, fastapi)
2. The dialog instantly shows if the package is already installed
3. Click Search to look up the package on PyPI
4. Review the version and description
5. Click ⬇ Install to install it

Export Report

Click ⬆ Export in the header and choose a format:

• 📝 Markdown — a formatted table with status icons and PyPI links, ready to paste into a README or wiki
• {} JSON — machine-readable data including version, status, release date, and vulnerability count

The report opens in a new editor tab beside the visualizer.

Unused Packages Tab

Shows all packages that have no detected import in your .py files.

The scanner uses static regex-based analysis — it reads every .py file in your workspace (excluding node_modules, .venv, __pycache__, etc.) and checks if the package's module name appears in any import or from ... import statement.

Known mappings handled:

• opencv-python → imported as cv2
• scikit-learn → imported as sklearn
• python-dotenv → imported as dotenv
• google-generativeai → imported as google.generativeai
• CLI-only tools (uvicorn, gunicorn, black, etc.) are never flagged as unused

Note: Static analysis may occasionally produce false positives for dynamically imported packages. Use the unused? badge as a hint, not a definitive answer.

Dependency Graph Tab

An interactive tree showing:

• Root → your direct packages → their sub-dependencies

Controls:

• 🖱️ Scroll — zoom in / out
• 🖱️ Drag — pan the canvas
• 🖱️ Click node — expand/collapse sub-dependencies, open package detail
• ⊡ Fit button — auto-fit all nodes in view
• ＋ / － buttons — zoom in / out

Node colors match the package status:

• 🟢 Green — up to date
• 🟠 Orange — update available
• 🔴 Red — vulnerable
• ⚪ Grey — unknown
• Dashed — not installed

History Tab

A chronological timeline of every install, update, and rollback performed through the extension. Entries are stored per-workspace.

⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts

⚙️ Configuration

Open Settings (Ctrl+,) and search for pythonPackageVisualizer:

🗂️ Supported Dependency Files

🔒 Security (CVE Badges)

Vulnerability data is fetched from the PyPI JSON API (https://pypi.org/pypi/{name}/json). If a package version has known vulnerabilities, a 🔴 CVE badge is shown inline and full details (CVE ID, description, fixed version) are visible in the package detail panel.

🛠️ Development

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/Elanchezhiyan-P/python-package-visualizer.git
cd python-package-visualizer

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build
npm run build

# Watch mode (auto-rebuild on save)
npm run watch

Then press F5 in VS Code (with the project folder open) to launch the Extension Development Host.

📁 Project Structure

python-package-visualizer/
├── src/
│   ├── extension.ts              # Entry point
│   ├── commands/
│   │   └── commandController.ts  # All command & message handlers
│   ├── modules/
│   │   ├── packageScanner.ts     # Scans requirements files
│   │   ├── importScanner.ts      # Static import analysis
│   │   └── requirementsSync.ts   # Syncs version pins to file
│   ├── services/
│   │   ├── versionChecker.ts     # PyPI API calls
│   │   └── versionHistoryCache.ts
│   ├── ui/
│   │   ├── webviewPanel.ts       # Main editor tab
│   │   ├── sidebarProvider.ts    # Activity Bar sidebar
│   │   └── statusBarManager.ts   # Status bar badge
│   └── webview/
│       ├── index.html            # Webview UI
│       └── main.js               # Webview JS
├── media/
│   └── icon.svg
└── package.json

🤝 Contributing

Contributions, issues and feature requests are welcome!

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/my-feature
3. Commit your changes: git commit -m 'Add my feature'
4. Push to the branch: git push origin feature/my-feature
5. Open a Pull Request

📄 License

MIT © Elanchezhiyan P

👨‍💻 Author

Elanchezhiyan P

• 🌐 codebyelan.in
• 🐙 github.com/Elanchezhiyan-P

If you find this extension useful, consider giving it a ⭐ on GitHub!