N|Solid

Node.js Production Benchmarking, Diagnostics, Telemetry, and Security

N|Solid is the only observability tool developed by Node.js core contributors, for the Node.js ecosystem.

Overview | Core Capabilities | Documentation | Requirements | Getting Started | Configuration | Data and Telemetry | License | Help and Feedback

Overview

N|Solid connects your workspace to the N|Solid Console and surfaces runtime insights, package intelligence, and AI-assisted workflows inside VS Code. It is the only tool that brings runtime-connected inline package security and accurate pre-production function benchmarking directly into the editor.

• Live telemetry — Monitor CPU, heap, event loop utilization, connected processes, and vulnerability counts from the VS Code sidebar.
• Inline package security — Review dependency risk, vulnerabilities, and trust signals through Node Certified Modules (NCM) — the only tool for runtime-connected inline package security.
• Function benchmarking — Benchmark JavaScript and TypeScript functions from the editor or chat, with A/B validation and optimization workflows — the only tool for accurately benchmarking your applications before they hit production.
• AI chat assistant — Use @nsolid in the VS Code chat panel to analyze CPU profiles, heap snapshots, runtime events, and dependency health with MCP-connected AI agents.
• Diagnostic assets — Create, download, and inspect V8 CPU profiles, heap snapshots, and heap profiles from connected applications.
• Process event investigation — Explore event collections grouped by application and event type to investigate runtime incidents with full context.

Core Capabilities

Telemetry

Live N|Solid telemetry is displayed in a dedicated VS Code sidebar so you can track application health without switching to the browser. Metrics include CPU usage, heap memory, event loop utilization, connected process counts, and vulnerability counts per application.

N|Solid also surfaces anomaly context from telemetry patterns — CPU spikes, heap growth, and event loop degradation — with one-click "Ask AI" prompts that launch AI-driven diagnostic workflows.

NCM — Package Security

NCM adds package intelligence directly to the development workflow. Review dependency risk, security posture, and package trust information while working in package.json, lockfiles, imports, and related project files.

NCM actions include running security audits, inspecting package health, evaluating upgrade paths, and asking AI-assisted questions about dependency quality. Package imports are inspectable through code lenses, letting you run vulnerability reports directly from the editor.

Benchmarks

Generate benchmarks for JavaScript and TypeScript functions from the editor or the @nsolid chat panel. The benchmark workflow captures function context, builds a benchmark prompt, runs the benchmark through the Benchmark MCP, and saves results under .nsolid/benchmarks/.

Benchmark commands support optimization workflows by comparing original and optimized implementations with A/B validation, preserving benchmark results for later review.

Reports

Analysis reports are saved as local Markdown files under the workspace .nsolid/ directory, making it easy to preserve investigation output without leaving the editor. Reports cover security audits, lockfile analyses, package checks, profile analyses, asset analyses, event investigations, benchmark results, and general runtime findings.

Events

Inspect process-level event data from N|Solid to understand runtime incidents, correlate behavior, and investigate issues from within the editor. The Events view groups event data by application and event type, helping you scan recent operational signals and launch deeper AI-assisted event analysis when needed.

Assets

Work with V8 diagnostic assets directly from the extension — CPU profiles, heap snapshots, and heap profiles. Capture performance and memory data, download assets locally, open them in the editor, and launch AI-assisted asset analysis.

Agent Skills

N|Solid installs and configures the NodeSource AI Toolkit so agents can use the N|Solid Console MCP, Benchmark MCP, and NCM MCP from the workspace. Chat commands cover workflows such as:

• /upgrade — Upgrade a specific npm package
• /replace — Suggest a replacement for an npm package
• /audit — Run a security audit on workspace dependencies
• /node-upgrade — Get guidance on upgrading your Node.js runtime
• /connect-setup — Inspect workspace files and suggest connection changes
• /generate-asset — Generate a diagnostic asset for a connected application
• /analyze-asset — Analyze an existing diagnostic asset
• /analyze-event — Investigate an event with runtime context
• /analyze-cpu — Analyze CPU performance issues
• /analyze-memory — Analyze memory leaks and heap usage
• /benchmark-run — Benchmark a single function
• /benchmark-validate — A/B compare implementations

Requirements

• VS Code 1.91.0 or newer
• An N|Solid Console account (SaaS or self-hosted) and a service token

Getting Started

Get up and running with N|Solid in five steps.

1. Install N|Solid from the VS Code Marketplace

Search for N|Solid in the extensions tab of VS Code and install the extension.

Next, follow the steps on the Welcome tab of the extension.

2. Sign in to N|Solid

Returning N|Solid users — Log in using the same credentials as your console.

New users — Create a new account through any of the available sign-up methods (Email, SAML, GitHub, Google, Azure). Any plan tier will provide you with the credentials needed to sign in.

Signing in through the extension automatically populates your console connection details into the extension configuration.

3. Install the NodeSource AI Toolkit

Click the installation button in the Welcome view to install and configure the necessary tools for the N|Solid Console MCP, NodeSource Benchmarking MCP, and Node Certified Modules (NCM) MCP.

4. Map your application

Map any single application to your extension based on apps connected to your configured console, or candidates collected from your repository (package.json, env files, Dockerfile, and compose files).

Mapping an application pins its telemetry and asset information to the top of your N|Solid views for quick access.

5. Connect your app

N|Solid includes quickstart actions that help connect a workspace Node.js application to the N|Solid Console. After signing in, use these actions from the Welcome view's Connect app to N|Solid Console step or from the Telemetry empty state.

Ask AI How to Connect

Select Ask AI How to Connect for guided setup of the project or deployment files in your workspace. N|Solid opens an @nsolid chat session with a setup prompt that asks the AI agent to inspect common Node.js configuration files — .env, package.json, Dockerfile, docker-compose.yml, and Kubernetes or Helm manifests — and provide copy-pasteable changes for supported connection methods.

Use this when you want the AI agent to explain required changes before applying them, adapt setup to containers or orchestration, or prepare deployment configuration for a non-local environment.

Launch Locally with N|Solid

Select Launch Locally with N|Solid to run the current workspace application with the N|Solid runtime immediately. N|Solid reads the workspace package.json, lists available npm scripts, and prioritizes common script names such as dev, start, serve, develop, and debug.

After you choose a script, N|Solid opens a terminal and runs:

npx nsolid-quickstart --saas "<token>" --npm "<script>"

The command uses your N|Solid SaaS token and launches the selected npm script through N|Solid so the process reports telemetry to the console. Once telemetry is detected, the application appears in the Telemetry view.

Configuration

All settings are under the nsolid.* namespace.

See the full list of settings in the N|Solid section of VS Code Settings (Cmd/Ctrl + ,).

Data and Telemetry

N|Solid collects anonymous usage telemetry to help improve the extension. Telemetry export is active only when all of these are true:

• VS Code telemetry is enabled
• nsolid.telemetry.enabled is true
• A connection string is configured

What is sent: Extension lifecycle events, chat command categories, prompt lengths, NCM workflow events, counts, booleans, file sizes, package manager names, lockfile types, language IDs, asset types, and coarse error categories.

What is not sent: Package names, versions, asset IDs, URLs, file paths, prompts, report content, application names, process IDs, organization IDs, tokens, connection strings, stack traces, or raw error messages.

You can disable telemetry at any time by setting nsolid.telemetry.enabled to false or disabling VS Code telemetry.

See docs/usage-telemetry.md and telemetry.json for complete details.

License

This extension is distributed under the N|Solid Extension End User License Agreement.

Marketplaces

N|Solid is available on the following IDE marketplaces:

• VS Code Marketplace (also compatible with Cursor)
• Open VSX Registry (also compatible with Antigravity IDE and other VS Code forks)
• Windsurf Marketplace

Help and Feedback

Report issues, request features, or share feedback through the NodeSource Support Portal or email support@nodesource.com.

Built by NodeSource