ReqTracer

A VS Code extension for requirements traceability — navigate seamlessly between specification documents, source code implementations, and test coverage, and detect when code changes make mappings stale.

Features

• AI-powered mapping — uses Claude Code or OpenCode to identify requirements in your specs and map them to implementing code symbols and tests
• Code navigation — jump from a requirement to its implementations, or from a file to its requirements
• Staleness detection — automatically flags mappings when source files change after they were mapped
• CodeLens & hover — inline indicators in spec files showing mapping counts and details
• Graph visualization — interactive Neo4j Browser view of your full traceability matrix

Requirements

• VS Code 1.85.0 or later
• Claude Code or OpenCode CLI installed and on your PATH
• Docker (required for the visualization feature)

Getting Started

1. Initialize

Open the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P) and run ReqTracer: Initialize.

This will:

• Ask which AI tool to use (Claude Code or OpenCode)
• Create a .reqtracer/config.json in your workspace
• Install the AI slash commands into .claude/commands/ or .opencode/commands/

2. Configure directories

Edit .reqtracer/config.json to point at your spec, source, and test directories, or run the /reqtracer.init slash command in your AI tool — it will discover them interactively:

{
  "version": "1.0",
  "specDirs": ["docs/specs"],
  "sourceDirs": ["src"],
  "testDirs": ["tests"],
  "aiTool": "claude-code"
}

3. Identify requirements

In your AI tool, run:

/reqtracer.identify

This scans your spec markdown files and generates .reqtracer/requirements.json, assigning each requirement a stable ID of the form REQ-{category}-{seq} (e.g., REQ-auth-001).

4. Map requirements to code

/reqtracer.map

This analyzes your source and test files, links each requirement to implementing symbols and tests, and writes the results to .reqtracer/mappings.json. The mapping can be interrupted and resumed — progress is tracked in .reqtracer/progress.json.

5. Navigate

• ReqTracer: Show Requirement — pick a requirement ID and jump to its implementations or tests
• ReqTracer: Show Requirements for File — from an open file, see which requirements it satisfies

6. Keep mappings fresh

After making code changes, run:

/reqtracer.check    # read-only staleness report
/reqtracer.remap    # incrementally re-map changed files only

The workspace watcher will also highlight stale mappings in real time as you save files.

7. Visualize

Run ReqTracer: Visualize to launch a Neo4j graph in your browser. The extension manages a Docker container automatically — no manual Neo4j setup needed.

Commands

AI Slash Commands

Extension Settings

Data Files

All ReqTracer data lives in .reqtracer/ at your workspace root:

Add .reqtracer/progress.json to .gitignore; commit the rest.

Traceability Graph Model

The Neo4j visualization uses a property graph:

• Nodes: Requirement, CodeSymbol, TestSymbol
• Edges: IMPLEMENTS (code → requirement), VERIFIED_BY (test → requirement)

License

MIT