GitHub Actions Watch
GitHub Actions runs, in the sidebar, for the repository you already have open.
The card lists every recent run, groups the same runs by workflow, and goes one
click deeper to the failed job, the failed step, and that step's log excerpt —
without leaving the editor or opening a browser tab.
Install
Search for GitHub Actions Watch in the Extensions view, or install a local
package:
npm run package
code --install-extension gh-actions-watch-0.2.0.vsix
Then click the Actions icon in the Activity Bar. To keep it out of the way,
right-click the view title → Move View and send it to the secondary sidebar.
The card
Rows are 22px and the header is 26px, so a narrow sidebar still lists a lot:
one line per row, name on the left, outcome and age on the right, full detail on
hover. The header carries the overall state as a dot — red when a recent run
failed, pulsing while one is building — and its tooltip shows the latest run per
repository.
▾ All runs 3
✕ CI [#41](https://github.com/mohamediburan/gh-actions-watch/issues/41) failure · 5m
✓ CI [#40](https://github.com/mohamediburan/gh-actions-watch/issues/40) success · 1h
◌ Deploy Edge [#12](https://github.com/mohamediburan/gh-actions-watch/issues/12) in progress · 2h
▸ By workflow 2
⎯⎯ after opening By workflow and CI ⎯⎯
▾ All runs 3
✕ CI [#41](https://github.com/mohamediburan/gh-actions-watch/issues/41) failure · 5m
✓ CI [#40](https://github.com/mohamediburan/gh-actions-watch/issues/40) success · 1h
◌ Deploy Edge [#12](https://github.com/mohamediburan/gh-actions-watch/issues/12) in progress · 2h
▾ By workflow 2
▾ CI failure · 5m
✕ [#41](https://github.com/mohamediburan/gh-actions-watch/issues/41) failure · 5m
✓ [#40](https://github.com/mohamediburan/gh-actions-watch/issues/40) success · 1h
▸ Deploy Edge in progress · 2h
⎯⎯ after opening [#41](https://github.com/mohamediburan/gh-actions-watch/issues/41) ⎯⎯
← CI ⟳
[#41](https://github.com/mohamediburan/gh-actions-watch/issues/41) · failure · 5m
· Open on GitHub
▾ ✕ build (ubuntu-latest) failure · 4m 12s
▸ ✓ Set up job step 1 · 2s
▾ ✕ Build images step 7 · 2m 58s
· Open full log on GitHub
docker build .
##[error]exit code 1
▸ · Always run step 8 · 0s
▸ ✓ test success · 1m 3s
The list screen has two collapsible sections. All runs is the newest run
page (ghActionsWatch.recentRuns, default 25) from every watched repository,
newest first. By workflow groups those same runs by workflow and opens each
group's runs in place. All runs starts open, By workflow starts collapsed. With
more than one repository, each gets its own header inside By workflow — they
are indistinguishable once merged.
When a repository's page is full, one muted line under the list says so
(Updated just now · newest 25 runs per repo — raise ghActionsWatch.recentRuns for more). That is why a workflow with no run in the
page is absent from the runs: the page is shared by every workflow in the
repository. It is still listed under By workflow, muted, as no run in this page, because /actions/workflows is read on demand (15-minute cache) to name
the workflows that are quiet. That endpoint is only touched once you open the
section, and it never joins the poll.
ghActionsWatch.recentRuns accepts 1–100 (GitHub's per-page maximum).
Opening a run lists every job and every step of that run, so a failure is
seen in context: failed jobs are red and start expanded, the rest are one click
away. Expanding a step shows that step's lines from the job log inline, with
Open full log on GitHub one click away.
A running run is treated as live: its steps are re-read on every poll (10 s
cache instead of 60 s), and an expanded excerpt is dropped after 10 s so it
never looks fresher than it is. GitHub publishes a job's log only once the job
finishes, so expanding a step that has not finished says so instead of sending a
request that would 404.
Loading is shown where it happens: a 2 px indeterminate bar under the header,
skeleton lines beneath the row you clicked, and the list dimmed and unclickable
until the request lands.
Clicking a row never reloads the card: the level you are on and the sections and
groups you opened stay put, even when you switch to another sidebar view and
come back.
Sign-in
The card uses VS Code's built-in GitHub session, so there is nothing to
configure and no personal access token to create, copy or rotate:
- the first time, the card offers Sign in with GitHub, and the consent
dialog asks for the
repo scope;
- while that first lookup is still running the card says it is checking, so the
button does not flash on load;
- if the session is replaced or revoked, the card returns to the sign-in button
and starts polling again once you sign in.
Refreshing
The card refreshes itself, so there is nothing to keep in sync by hand:
- every 15 s while a run is queued or in progress, every 90 s when everything is
finished;
- immediately when the window regains focus, when you press the refresh button,
when you run GitHub Actions Watch: Refresh, or when a commit or push lands
in the open repository;
- not at all while the window is in the background.
A refresh you ask for is visible and is not served from a cache: the bar under
the header shows while it runs, the open run's jobs and step logs are re-read,
and the footer tells you when the rows were last read (Updated just now), so a
refresh that finds nothing new still says so.
Requests are conditional, so a refresh that finds nothing new spends no GitHub
API quota — that applies to the run page and to a run's jobs. Jobs are fetched
only for a run you open, and a step's log only when you expand that step.
Workflow definitions are read once per 15 minutes, and only while By
workflow is open.
When GitHub does limit the extension — the primary hourly quota or a secondary
burst limit — the card pauses until the time GitHub gives (x-ratelimit-reset
or retry-after) instead of retrying into the block.
Repository scope
The default is the current checkout: for each workspace folder, the extension
runs git -C <folder> remote get-url origin and resolves owner/name from it.
Set ghActionsWatch.repositories (an array of owner/name) only to override
that, e.g. to watch a repository that is not the one you have open.
Develop
npm install
npm run bundle # esbuild -> dist/extension.js (one file, zero runtime deps)
npm run typecheck
npm run lint
npm test # headless: vscode aliased to a stub, GitHub responses canned
npm run package # -> gh-actions-watch-0.2.0.vsix
Open the folder in VS Code and press F5 for an Extension Development Host.
Settings
| Setting |
Default |
Meaning |
ghActionsWatch.repositories |
[] |
owner/name list; empty uses each folder's origin |
ghActionsWatch.activePollMs |
15000 |
Poll interval while a run is active |
ghActionsWatch.idlePollMs |
90000 |
Poll interval when nothing is running |
ghActionsWatch.recentRuns |
25 |
Runs fetched per repository, shown in both sections |
License
MIT — see LICENSE.
