DevSync

Get your head back into the code after an interruption.

You are halfway through fixing a tricky function. A meeting starts, or you have to switch to another project. When you return, you have to remember what you were thinking, what you had already tried, where you stopped, and what was still broken.

DevSync saves that context while you work and shows it to you when you come back.

What DevSync does

• Remembers where you stopped. The file, line and function you were working in, with the surrounding code.
• Keeps your thinking. A quick note (typed or spoken) about what you were doing and what you planned next.
• Tracks your errors until they are fixed. Editor errors and terminal errors are recorded the moment they appear. DevSync keeps watching until each one is fixed, and records how long it took and what changed.
• Shows it all when you return. A Resume Briefing opens with everything above, plus your git changes and where your time went.

Everything stays on your machine. DevSync makes no network requests and sends no telemetry.

Getting started

1. Install DevSync. A DevSync icon appears in the Activity Bar.
2. Work as usual. Error tracking and time tracking start automatically.
3. Before you step away, click DevSync: Save Context in the status bar (or press Ctrl+Alt+D, Cmd+Alt+D on macOS) and type one line about what you were thinking.
4. When you come back, DevSync offers a briefing: "You left 2h 10m ago in buildReport (report.py:42)". Click Show briefing.

If you forget step 3, DevSync still saves a session automatically when your VS Code window has been unfocused for 5 minutes, when you have been idle for 10 minutes, and when VS Code closes. Those automatic sessions have no note, because only you know what you were thinking.

The Resume Briefing

The briefing has four parts.

Where you stopped The file, line and function, with a code snippet around your cursor and a button that jumps straight back to that line.

What you were thinking Your saved note, plus any text or voice notes from the last few hours.

Errors and time to fix

• Not fixed yet: each open error with its message, a clickable file:line, the code around that line as it is now, the terminal output (for terminal errors), and how long it has been open.
• Fixed in the last 24 hours: each fixed error with the time it took, how DevSync knew it was fixed, and a before/after diff of the code that changed while the error was open.
• A summary of the last 7 days: how many errors you fixed and how long each took on average.

Work in progress The function you spent the most time in today, your branch and last commit, uncommitted and unsaved files, and the files and functions you changed today.

Error tracking

DevSync tracks two kinds of errors.

Editor errors

The errors VS Code shows in the Problems panel, reported by the language servers for the languages you use. An editor error counts as fixed when it disappears while its file is still open. Errors that vanish within 15 seconds are ignored as typing noise.

Terminal errors

Commands you run in the VS Code integrated terminal that fail. DevSync works with any language or tool. It reads the failure, picks out the error message, and finds the file and line in your project when the output contains one. It recognizes common formats from Python, JavaScript and TypeScript, Java and Kotlin, Go, Rust, C and C++, C#, PHP, Ruby, Elixir, Flutter, Gradle, Maven, npm, pytest, jest and others. If a format is not recognized, the last line of the output is used as the message.

A terminal error counts as fixed when the same command later succeeds. If the same command fails with a different error, the first one counts as fixed and the new one is tracked.

Commands that keep running for more than 10 seconds, such as dev servers and watchers, are read as a live stream, so errors they print while running are recorded as they happen. Because these commands have no exit code, a fix is detected when the server reports that it recovered after you edited code, or when the error does not repeat for 25 seconds after you saved a file. The briefing marks those as "probably fixed".

How the time to fix is measured

• Active time counts only while your VS Code window is focused and you have done something in the last 2 minutes. A bug left open through a long meeting does not inflate it.
• Total time is the time from when DevSync first saw the error to when it was fixed.

How a fix is shown

When an error first appears, DevSync keeps a temporary copy of the file it points to. If you save other files while the error is open, it keeps a copy of those too (up to 3 files). When the error is fixed, the copies are compared with the files as they are now, and the differences are shown in the briefing. The copies are deleted straight away.

If no project file changed, for example because installing a package fixed the problem, the briefing says so.

Daily report

Run DevSync: Daily Report (Git + Time) to open a report with two sections.

Section 1: Git changes For today and the last 7 days: the commits, the files that changed, the functions that changed in each file, and the lines that changed.

Section 2: Time spent For today and the last 7 days: the files and functions where you spent the most time, and your active coding time per day.

Time tracking records which file and which function your cursor is in while you are active. History builds up from the day you install DevSync.

Commands

Open the DevSync icon in the Activity Bar to run any command by clicking it, or search for the command in the Command Palette.

Where your data goes

DevSync writes a .devsync folder in your project:

Time totals, the error history and the recent-projects list are kept in VS Code's own storage.

Add .devsync/ to your .gitignore. Sessions can contain code snippets, error messages and terminal output, which may include sensitive text. DevSync never uploads any of it.

About the microphone

The voice pad uses your microphone through a VS Code webview. Some VS Code builds block microphone access there. If you see a microphone error, click Open in Browser in the pad. It opens the same recorder in your browser, served from a temporary server on 127.0.0.1 (your computer only, random port, random token in the address) that stops when VS Code closes. Recordings still save to .devsync/recordings/.

Requirements

• VS Code 1.93 or newer.
• Git, for the git sections of reports and snapshots.
• Terminal shell integration, for terminal errors. It is on by default for common shells. You know it is working when each command in the terminal gets a status dot beside it.
• A language extension for each language you use (for example Python with Pylance), so VS Code can report editor errors and function names.

Settings

Example, in settings.json:

"devsync.errorPatterns": ["^MYTOOL_FATAL", "\\[CRITICAL\\]"]

Limitations

• Terminal errors are only recorded for commands run in the VS Code integrated terminal, and only when shell integration is active. The debug console, the Test Explorer, the Output panel, containers running in the background, and browser console errors are not covered.
• A fix for a dev-server error is inferred, not proven. The briefing labels these "probably fixed".
• The diff for a fixed error covers the files saved while the error was open (up to 3 files, each up to 200 KB). Unrelated edits you saved in that time can appear in it.
• Time to fix starts when DevSync first sees the error, not when the bug was written.
• Saving a session when VS Code closes is best effort. VS Code does not always wait for extensions when it shuts down.
• A function shows as (top level) when no language extension provides symbols for that file.

Troubleshooting

The briefing says "No error history was recorded". Run DevSync: Save Context again. The briefing shows your latest saved session, and sessions saved by an older version of DevSync have no error history.

Terminal errors are not appearing. Check that the terminal tab shows "Shell integration activated" when you hover it, and that you ran the command after DevSync started. Each finished command also logs a line starting with DevSync: command ended in the Developer Tools console (Help > Toggle Developer Tools).

A command says "not found". Reload the window (Developer: Reload Window) after installing or updating DevSync.

Microphone error in the voice pad. Use Open in Browser in the pad, as described above.