🚀 CodeCollab

Collaborate smarter. Code with confidence.

CodeCollab is a real-time collaboration and activity tracking extension for Visual Studio Code. It helps development teams see who's working on which file, prevent code conflicts, and boost productivity effortlessly—all within your IDE.

📋 Table of Contents

• Features
• Getting Started
• How It Works
• File Dashboard
• Commands
• Configuration

✨ Features

• 🔍 Real-Time Activity Tracking: Automatically tracks which files you and your team are working on.
• � File Dashboard: Deep dive into any file to see currently active users and full git history.
• 📜 Git Integration: Browse commit history and view file diffs directly within the dashboard.
• �👥 Team Visibility: See who else is editing the same file in the status bar.
• 📊 Two-Level Dashboard:
  • General Dashboard: High-level view of all active files across the workspace.
  • File Dashboard: Detailed view for a specific file (Active Users + History).
• ⚡ Performance Optimized: Smart caching, lazy loading, and debounced writes ensure smooth performance.
• 🧹 Automatic & Manual Cleanup: Keep your workspace clean by removing old data automatically or on demand.

🚀 Getting Started

1. Install the Extension: Install CodeCollab from the VS Code Marketplace.
2. Open a Workspace: CodeCollab works within your open workspace folder.
3. Start Coding: The extension activates automatically.
4. View Dashboards:
   • Click the CodeCollab icon in the Activity Bar.
   • Select "General Dashboard" for an overview.
   • Select "File Dashboard" to inspect specific files.

💡 Pro Tip: Alt + Click on any file path in the General Dashboard to instantly open its File Dashboard!

🔧 How It Works

CodeCollab works by creating a lightweight, hidden folder (.codecollab) in your workspace.

1. Tracking: When you open or edit a file, CodeCollab updates a small record in this folder.
2. Sharing: Since this folder is part of your workspace, it gets synced via Git (or your shared drive).
3. Visualizing: The extension reads these records to show you who is working on what in real-time.
4. History: For the File Dashboard, it leverages your local .git folder to display commit history and diffs without external API calls.

Note: For best results, ensure the .codecollab folder is included in your shared file system or synchronized frequently.

📂 File Dashboard

The File Dashboard gives you a granular view of a specific file.

• Opened Tab: See everyone currently viewing or editing the file.
• Saved (History) Tab:
  • View the full Git commit history for the file (supports renamed files!).
  • Click any commit to see a clean diff view of changes made in that version.

🎮 Commands

Access these via the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P):

⚙️ Configuration

You can customize CodeCollab in VS Code Settings:

• Cache TTL: How long to remember user data.
• Write Delay: How often to save changes to disk (debounced).
• User Count Interval: How often to update the status bar.
• Dashboard Refresh MS: Speed of auto-refresh for dashboards.

Made with ❤️ by Mihir Bhadak