Lightweight, zero-network local Git code trace extension for VS Code.
CodeTrace is a performant, privacy-first Git blame extension that works entirely offline. It provides inline blame annotations, hover commit details, and sidebar history panels — all without sending any data externally.
Features
Inline Blame — Author, relative time, and commit summary displayed inline at the end of the current line. Automatically refreshes as you move the cursor.
Hover Details — Hover over any line to see the full commit metadata: author, timestamp, commit message, and short hash.
Uncommitted Changes — Lines with uncommitted modifications are clearly labeled as "Uncommitted Changes".
Line History Panel — Sidebar panel tracking the full commit chain that modified the currently selected line, using git log -L.
File History Panel — Sidebar panel showing the complete commit timeline for the currently open file.
Status Bar — Displays current branch, uncommitted file count, and one-click access to the sidebar.
Plugin Conflict Detection — Automatically detects GitLens, Git Graph, and other conflicting extensions, offering to disable their blame features.
Multi-language — Full English and Chinese (简体中文) support. Auto-detects VS Code display language.
Theme Adaptive — All UI elements follow VS Code's native theme colors. No custom color schemes.
100% Local — No network requests. No telemetry. No data collection. Your code never leaves your machine.
Requirements
VS Code ≥ 1.75.0
Git ≥ 2.20.0
Installation
From VS Code Marketplace
Open VS Code
Go to Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X / Cmd+Shift+X)
Search for CodeTrace
Click Install
From VSIX
code --install-extension codetrace-1.0.0.vsix
Usage
Once installed, CodeTrace activates automatically when you open a workspace containing a .git directory.
Action
How
View inline blame
Move cursor over any line — blame appears at line end
See commit details
Hover over any line
Open sidebar
Click the CodeTrace icon in the Activity Bar, or click the status bar
Toggle inline blame
Run CodeTrace: Toggle Inline Blame from Command Palette
Show file history
Right-click in editor → CodeTrace: Show File History
Configuration
All settings are under codetrace.* in VS Code settings:
Setting
Default
Description
codetrace.enabled
true
Master enable/disable switch
codetrace.idleSleep.enabled
true
Put Git queries to sleep after idle timeout
codetrace.idleSleep.timeout
300
Idle timeout in seconds
codetrace.blame.fontSize
"0.8em"
Font size for inline blame text
codetrace.blame.opacity
0.55
Opacity for inline blame text (0-1)
codetrace.blame.color
"auto"
Color ("auto" follows theme)
codetrace.ignore.patterns
[...]
Glob patterns to exclude from blame
codetrace.ignore.useGitignore
true
Also respect .gitignore
codetrace.fileSizeLimit
20000
Max file lines for inline blame (0 = unlimited)
codetrace.cache.maxCommits
20
Commits cached per workspace
Contributing
Contributions are welcome! Please ensure:
All code passes ESLint (npm run lint)
All tests pass with coverage (npm test)
New features include unit tests
Functions have JSDoc comments
License
This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.
