Scribe

Scribe is a local-first developer activity tracker for VS Code. It quietly records workspace activity, turns that activity into readable progress logs, and versions each snapshot in a local Git repository.

The goal is simple: help developers recover context, understand how a session evolved, and create useful progress summaries without introducing another dashboard or sending source activity to a remote service.

Why Scribe exists

Development work is rarely a clean sequence of finished tasks. A session includes experiments, reversals, small fixes, and decisions that are difficult to reconstruct later. Commit history captures some of that story, but only after the developer deliberately creates a commit.

Scribe creates a lightweight local record between those moments. It is designed to preserve context without interrupting flow.

What it does

• Tracks file-edit activity within the current workspace
• Generates timestamped Markdown logs at configurable intervals
• Produces daily and weekly summaries
• Stores logs in a workspace-specific local Git repository
• Lets developers browse previous snapshots
• Compares the current state with an earlier snapshot
• Restores a selected snapshot after confirmation
• Creates an experimental branch from an earlier snapshot

Scribe stores workspace logs under:

C:\Users\<your-name>\.scribe\<workspace-folder>

Your logs and snapshot history remain on your machine.

Product and engineering decisions

Local ownership

Activity data can reveal a great deal about a developer and their work. Scribe keeps its records local by default and uses Git as a transparent, inspectable history rather than introducing a proprietary storage layer.

Low-interruption tracking

The extension runs in the background and summarizes activity instead of asking the developer to manually maintain a journal throughout the day.

Workspace-aware histories

Each workspace receives an independent log history. Activity from unrelated projects is never mixed into a single timeline.

Reversible exploration

Snapshot restore, diffing, and branch creation are exposed as deliberate commands. Operations that can change the workspace require an explicit choice from the developer.

Example log

### 2026-08-20 16:00

- Edited: /components/Header.tsx (3 times)
- Edited: /pages/index.tsx (1 time)

Commands

Getting started

1. Install Scribe in VS Code.
2. Open a project workspace.
3. Start working. Scribe will create and update the workspace log automatically.

If the extension does not activate after installation, reload the VS Code window.

Development

npm install
npm run compile

Use the VS Code extension development host to run and debug the extension locally.

Roadmap

• A visual activity dashboard
• More control over logging intervals and event categories
• Optional remote-repository synchronization
• Richer summaries that remain explainable and developer-controlled

Related project

The product and documentation site lives in scribe.pxxlspace.cv.

License

Scribe is available under the MIT License.