Code Guardian for Visual Studio
Automated C# code review integrated into Visual Studio.
Code Guardian analyzes your C# files on demand — detecting security vulnerabilities, bad practices, code smells, and quality metrics — and surfaces results directly in the Error List, Tool Window, and a full HTML report.
No cloud. No external services. Runs entirely on your machine.
What it detects
| Category |
Examples |
| Security |
SQL Injection, hardcoded secrets, path traversal, dangerous deserialization |
| Reliability |
Swallowed exceptions, empty catch blocks, unbounded loops |
| Performance |
N+1 query patterns, string concatenation in loops, missing CancellationToken |
| Clean Code |
God Class, methods over 30 lines, deep nesting (5+ levels), magic numbers |
| Async/Await |
.Result / .Wait() deadlock patterns, fire-and-forget without error handling |
Features
🎯 Risk Score 0–100
Every analysis produces a visual Risk Score — green (low risk) through red (critical).
| Score |
Label |
| 0–10 |
Low Risk |
| 11–30 |
Moderate |
| 31–60 |
High Risk |
| 61–100 |
Critical |
📋 Error List Integration
All issues appear in the Visual Studio Error List with severity, rule ID, file name, and line number — click to navigate directly to the problem.
Open via Tools → Code Guardian to see:
- Risk Score with color-coded progress bar
- Issue counts by severity (Critical / Error / Warning / Info)
- Full issue list with message, rule ID, file, and line
- Code metrics per file (total lines, method size, nesting depth, coupling)
🌐 HTML Report
One-click self-contained HTML report with dark theme — risk summary, metrics table, and full issues list with severity badges.
🔗 Git Hooks
Install a pre-commit hook via Tools → Code Guardian: Install Git Hooks to automatically block commits containing critical issues.
Requirements
| Requirement |
Details |
| Visual Studio |
2019 (16.x) or 2022 (17.x) — Community, Professional, or Enterprise |
| Python |
3.8 or later — must be on PATH or configured in settings |
| Code Guardian scripts |
The code_guardian/ folder in your repository root |
The analysis engine (Python scripts) is open-source and available at:
github.com/marcosaraujo-dev/code-guardian
Quick Start
- Install the extension from the Marketplace
- Clone or copy the
code_guardian/ folder into your repository root
- Open a solution in Visual Studio
- Tools → Analyze Current File or right-click the solution → Analyze with Code Guardian
- View results in the Error List and Tools → Code Guardian panel
Commands
| Command |
Location |
| Code Guardian |
Tools menu — opens the Tool Window |
| Analyze Current File |
Tools menu — analyzes the active .cs file |
| Analyze with Code Guardian |
Solution Explorer context menu — full solution scan |
| Install Git Hooks |
Tools menu — installs pre-commit hook |
Developed by CygnusForge — free and open source.
