BDD Guardian 🛡️

Guard and navigate your BDD steps across Reqnroll, SpecFlow, and Cucumber!

🖥️ Compatibility

A VS Code extension that provides intelligent navigation, visual feedback, and diagnostics for BDD projects using Reqnroll, SpecFlow, Cucumber, and more.

✨ What's improved (0.4.x)

• C# verbatim patterns with quotes — Bindings like [When(@"they click on ""(.*)"" in the menu")] now correctly match steps such as When they click on "Projects" in the menu.
• Single architecture — One indexing and resolution path (IndexManager + binding providers + core resolver); no duplicate logic, one regex compiler.
• Unified Gherkin parsing — Coach mode and the rest of the extension use the same core parser for .feature files.
• UI language — Optional English/Spanish for messages (status bar, hover, diagnostics) via bddGuardian.displayLanguage.
• 140 tests — Broader coverage for matching, parsing, and Scenario Outline expansion.

📊 CodeLens

See binding status directly above each step:

• ✅ Bound: Shows ClassName.MethodName - click to navigate
• ⚠️ Unbound: Warning when no binding is found
• ⚡ Ambiguous: Multiple bindings match - click to select

🎯 Visual Feedback

BDD Guardian provides subtle, non-intrusive visual feedback:

Gutter Icons

Small icons in the editor gutter show step status at a glance:

• ✓ Green checkmark — bound step
• ✗ Red X — unbound step
• ! Orange warning — ambiguous step

Left Border

A subtle colored border on step lines reinforces status.

Overview Ruler

Status markers appear in the minimap/overview ruler for quick file scanning.

💡 Tip: All visual feedback can be disabled via settings.

💬 Enriched Hover

Hover over any step for detailed information:

For Bound steps:

• Binding class and method
• Regex pattern
• File location (clickable)
• Captured parameters
• Code preview (expandable)

For Unbound steps:

• Suggested binding pattern

For Ambiguous steps:

• Top 3 matching bindings
• Best match highlighted
• Link to show all matches

🧭 Navigation History

Navigate back and forward between steps and bindings:

📍 From bindings to steps (usages)

In step definition files (.cs, .ts, .py, etc.), CodeLens above each binding shows how many steps use it:

• → 1 usage (Scenario name) — click to open the step in the feature file
• → N usages (M scenarios) — click to pick a usage from a list and jump to it
  Works with any indexed framework (Reqnroll, SpecFlow, and future Cucumber.js, Behave, etc.).

🔍 Diagnostics

Real-time warnings in the Problems panel for:

• Unbound steps (no matching binding)
• Ambiguous steps (multiple bindings match)

📋 Scenario Outline Support

Full support for Scenario Outlines with Examples tables:

• Automatically expands <placeholders> with Example values
• Accurate binding resolution for parameterized steps

🔌 Multi-Framework Support

Automatic detection of BDD frameworks:

• ✅ C# Reqnroll - Fully implemented
• ✅ C# SpecFlow - Fully implemented
• 🔜 JavaScript Cucumber (planned)
• 🔜 Python Behave (planned)

📦 Installation

From VSIX (Current)

1. Download the .vsix file
2. In VS Code: Cmd+Shift+P → "Install from VSIX"
3. Select the downloaded file

From Marketplace

Search for "BDD Guardian" in VS Code Extensions, or install from:
Marketplace

⚙️ Configuration

Language

Visual Feedback

Core Features

Indexing

🐛 Known Issues

• Large projects may experience initial indexing delay (status bar shows “Indexing…” while running)
• Some complex regex patterns may not match correctly

📝 Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for version history.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue first to discuss proposed changes.

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Inspired by the Reqnroll, SpecFlow, and Cucumber communities
• Built with ❤️ for BDD practitioners

🏢 Enterprise Features

BDD Guardian is designed for enterprise-scale projects:

Performance Guardrails

• Max Files Limit: Configurable limit (default: 5,000) prevents memory issues in large monorepos
• Batch Processing: Files are indexed in batches to keep VS Code responsive
• Async Operations: All indexing is non-blocking

Resilience

• Safe Fallbacks: Extension never crashes - all operations are wrapped in try/catch
• Graceful Degradation: If provider detection fails, falls back to manual configuration
• Detailed Logging: Output channel shows all operations for troubleshooting

Configuration for Large Projects

{
  "reqnrollNavigator.maxFilesIndexed": 10000,
  "reqnrollNavigator.excludePatterns": [
    "**/bin/**",
    "**/obj/**",
    "**/node_modules/**",
    "**/TestResults/**"
  ]
}