AI-DLC generates folders and Markdown artifacts across three lifecycle stages (Inception → Construction → Operations). This extension is purpose-built to track and consume those artifacts:
Stage-aware artifact tracking — only detects folders and .md files produced by the AI-DLC workflow (inception/, construction/, operations/), ignoring unrelated files and directories.
Current stage indicator — shows at a glance which AI-DLC stage the project is currently in, based on the most recently updated artifact.
Overall progress bar — visual progress bar summarizing how far the project has advanced across all three stages.
Readable Markdown viewer — opens each .md artifact in a split editor with a syntax-colored, prettier-styled preview (color-coded headings, tables, task lists, code blocks) for high readability.
In-place editing — edit and save changes back to the original .md file directly from the viewer, with a resizable splitter and zoom controls.
Live change detection — automatically picks up new files and folders created by Claude CLI (or any external process) via file watchers and focus-based refresh.
Built-in AI-DLC guide — a help panel explaining AI-DLC phases, rules, and generated artifacts, accessible from the view toolbar.
How it works
Minimal VS Code extension prototype for AI-DLC workflow folders:
Select a folder to watch.
Show live file and directory changes in a tree view.
Click a Markdown file to open an editable split viewer.
Save changes back to the original .md file.
Run locally
Open this folder in VS Code.
Press F5 to launch an Extension Development Host.
In the new window, open the AIDLC activity bar icon.
Run AIDLC-VIEWER: Select Folder.
Choose the folder that Claude CLI is writing into.
For a ready-made test fixture, choose ../aidlc-test/sample-workflow.
Current scope
Watches one selected root folder.
Refreshes tree items when files or directories change.
Opens .md files in a custom webview with editor + preview.
Saves edits directly to disk.
Shows the first Markdown heading in the tree as a quick description.
Hides folders that do not contain any Markdown files.
Adds section-friendly directory labels for rule repositories.
Marks newly created Markdown files with a green NEW indicator.
Marks opened Markdown files as READ and rolls counts up to parent folders.
Shows a compact stage summary at the top of the tree with the current stage and stage counts.
Good fit for rule repositories
This works well for AI-DLC repositories and assets such as:
That repository has a nested rules structure such as:
aws-aidlc-rules/core-workflow.md
aws-aidlc-rule-details/common/*.md
aws-aidlc-rule-details/inception/*.md
aws-aidlc-rule-details/construction/*.md
aws-aidlc-rule-details/operations/*.md
aws-aidlc-rule-details/extensions/**/*.md
The extension will show that structure as a live tree and display each Markdown file with an editable preview panel.
Directories such as common, inception, construction, operations, and extensions also get clearer icons and summaries in the tree.
Suggested test flow
Start the extension with F5.
Select ../aidlc-test/sample-workflow.
Confirm the top row shows the current stage.
Open inception/requirements-analysis.md and confirm it becomes READ.
Create a new file such as construction/new-task.md and confirm it appears as green NEW.
Open that new file and confirm NEW changes to READ.
Edit operations/review-checklist.md, save it, and confirm the stage row moves to Operations.
Edit construction/functional-design.md, save it, and confirm the stage row moves back to Construction.
