DevDiff VS Code Extension (v1.6.0)

Privacy-first, BYOAI (Bring Your Own AI) inline codebase intelligence and changelog generation for Visual Studio Code.

DevDiff Logo

DevDiff explains your Git diffs, parses abstract syntax trees (AST), and maintains persistent codebase memory directly inside VS Code. It is built from the ground up for developers who care about security, privacy, and understanding what changes enter their codebase.

📖 Official Documentation Portal: Learn more about setup, configuration options, and architecture at devdiff.vercel.app.

📦 Installation Options

Option 1: VS Code Marketplace (Recommended)

Search for DevDiff in the Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X or Cmd+Shift+X) and click Install.

Option 2: Install from Packaged VSIX

For offline development, air-gapped environments, or pre-release verification:

Download the packaged VSIX artifact: devdiff-vscode-1.6.0.vsix (available on GitHub Releases)
Open VS Code.
Open the Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X or Cmd+Shift+X).
Click the ... (More Actions) button in the upper-right corner of the Extensions view.
Select Install from VSIX...
Select devdiff-vscode-1.6.0.vsix and click Install.

🚀 Key v1.6.0 Features

🖥️ 4 Dedicated Sidebar Views:
1. Changelog Explorer: Inspect staged changes, preview changelogs, and render inline Mermaid architecture graphs.
2. Q&A Chat Panel: Ask natural language questions against persistent codebase memory (.devdiff/memory/codebase-index.json) in <50ms.
3. Security & Compliance Panel: Run one-click vulnerability scans and check code against 10 regulatory frameworks (GDPR, SOC 2, HIPAA).
4. Settings & Personas Panel: Configure active AI models, rate limits, secret redaction, and persona filters.
💬 @devdiff Native Chat Participant: Use @devdiff directly in VS Code Chat to query codebase memory and generate diff summaries.
⚡ CodeLens & Gutter Annotations: Trigger ⚡ DevDiff: Explain Changes directly above modified functions in active text editors.
🛡️ IDEGuardian Protection: Isolated worker thread execution with a 256MB memory cap and 5s typing activity idle detection to ensure VS Code never freezes.
🔒 Privacy-First & Local AI: Connects out-of-the-box to local models via Ollama (Llama 3.2, Qwen 2.5 Coder, DeepSeek Coder) or in-browser WebGPU. No telemetry, no cloud relays.

🛠️ Usage & Commands

1. Initialize Workspace Memory

npx devdiff memory init

2. Command Palette Actions (`Ctrl+Shift+P` / `Cmd+Shift+P`)

DevDiff: Explain Staged Changes — Generates a persona-driven changelog for staged diffs.
DevDiff: Open Q&A Chat Panel — Opens the sidebar chat interface for codebase questions.
DevDiff: Run Security & Compliance Scan — Scans staged changes against regulatory standards.
DevDiff: Show Diagnostic Output — Displays DevDiff extension logs.

⚙️ Configuration Settings

Customize DevDiff under Settings (Ctrl+, or Cmd+,) by searching for devdiff:

Setting	Type	Default	Description
`devdiff.persona`	`string`	`"developer"`	Persona perspective (`developer`, `ceo`, `educator`, `robot`, `data-analyst`, `journalist`, `pm`, `compliance`)
`devdiff.provider`	`string`	`"ollama-local"`	AI model provider (`ollama-local`, `openai-cloud`, `anthropic-cloud`, `webllm-gpu`)
`devdiff.model`	`string`	`"llama3.2:3b"`	Model identifier (e.g. `llama3.2:3b`, `qwen2.5-coder:7b`, `gpt-4o-mini`)
`devdiff.autoGenerate`	`boolean`	`false`	Automatically analyze changes when files are staged
`devdiff.showCodeLens`	`boolean`	`true`	Display inline `⚡ DevDiff: Explain` CodeLens annotations in editor
`devdiff.memoryCapMb`	`number`	`256`	`IDEGuardian` worker memory ceiling in megabytes
`devdiff.idleDetectionSeconds`	`number`	`5`	Pause background analysis when active typing is detected

🔒 Security & Privacy Guarantees

DevDiff enforces strict local security sandboxing:

Zero Telemetry: No tracking beacons, analytics scripts, or phone-home calls.
Redaction Engine v2: Automatically strips API keys, RSA/PEM private keys, and .env credentials before any AI processing.
Network Guard: Outbound network calls are restricted exclusively to AI provider endpoints explicitly configured by the user.

📖 Useful Links

Official Documentation Portal: devdiff.vercel.app
GitHub Repository: github.com/EldrexDelosReyesBula/devdiff
Ollama Setup Guide: devdiff.vercel.app/ai-providers/ollama-setup
Security & Privacy Policy: devdiff.vercel.app/legal/privacy-policy

DevDiff

Eldrex Delos Reyes Bula