Shows PrufGate findings inline: production code that fakes its result, tests that cannot fail, and checks weakened in a diff. Each finding is a diagnostic in the editor and the Problems panel, with its rule ID (linked to the engine reference) and its confidence.
Severity
Shown as
P0, P1 (blocking)
Error
P2
Warning
P3
Information
Install
The extension runs the prufgate command you install; it does not bundle it.
Install the CLI: pipx install prufgate
Build the extension (Node.js 22 or later), from this folder:
npm ci
npm run package
Install the file it makes: code --install-extension prufgate-<version>.vsix, or in VS Code Extensions > Views and More Actions... > Install from VSIX...
A Marketplace release is coming later.
Use
Saving a file checks again after a short pause.
PrufGate: Check workspace in the Command Palette checks every folder of the workspace.
The status bar shows the error, warning and information counts; click it to check again.
Settings
Setting
Default
What it does
prufgate.path
prufgate
The program to run: a command name looked up on PATH, or an absolute path. Read from user or remote settings only.
prufgate.scope
changed
changed runs prufgate check --changed --format json; workspace runs prufgate check --format json on the whole folder. Read from user or remote settings only.
prufgate.runOnSave
true
Check again after a save. Read from user or remote settings only, so a repository cannot switch it off.
Safety
Trusted workspaces only. In Restricted Mode the extension is not activated and runs nothing.
A workspace cannot choose the program.prufgate.path is a machine-scoped setting, so a .vscode/settings.json in a repository cannot point it at another binary. A command name is looked up in the absolute PATH entries only, never in the workspace folder; relative paths are refused.
No shell. The CLI is started with an argument list, from the workspace folder, and stopped after two minutes.
No secrets. The CLI gets a minimal environment (PATH, home and temporary directories, locale) and AI adjudication is switched off (PRUFGATE_NO_AI_ADJUDICATE=1), so the editor's API keys and tokens never reach it.
Missing CLI. If prufgate is not found, the extension says so once, with the install command, and does nothing else until you run the check command or change a setting.
Development
npm ci
npx tsc --noEmit -p .
npm test # node:test unit tests for the JSON-to-diagnostics mapping and CLI lookup
The extension's version always equals the PrufGate package version (tests/test_vscode_extension.py).
