FlowLens
See the Bigger Picture.
FlowLens is a Visual Studio extension designed to help you understand how ASP.NET Core requests move through your application.
Instead of manually jumping between controllers, interfaces, services, repositories, and database calls, FlowLens analyzes a selected endpoint and generates an interactive request-flow graph directly inside Visual Studio.
Visualize Request Flows
Place your cursor inside any supported ASP.NET Core controller endpoint, right-click, and select Analyze with FlowLens.
POST /api/students
↓
StudentsController.Create()
↓
IStudentService
↓
StudentService.CreateAsync()
↓
IStudentRepository
↓
StudentRepository
↓
EF Core Operation
Note: Screenshots showing the interactive graph in action should be embedded here to enhance the Visual Studio Marketplace listing.
Features
FlowLens v1.0.0 provides:
- ASP.NET Core Controller Endpoint Analysis: Fast trigger from any supported action method.
- Roslyn Semantic Analysis: Solution-wide source parsing and type resolution.
- Interface-to-Implementation Resolution: Automatically bridges abstractions to concrete types.
- Recursive Method Tracing: Deep call graph discovery across project boundaries.
- Cross-Project Request Flows: Seamless tracing through layered architectures.
- Branch-Aware Graphs with Cycle Protection: Handles multiple execution paths without infinite loops.
- EF Core Operation Awareness: Semantic labeling for data access calls.
- Overview & Deep Dive Modes: Switch between a high-level architectural summary and detailed code paths.
- Expand & Collapse Controls: Focus on relevant parts of the call tree.
- Direct Source Navigation: Jump directly to code locations from the graph.
- Native Tool Window: Automatic layout engine supporting Visual Studio Light and Dark themes.
EF Core Awareness
FlowLens identifies common Entity Framework Core operations and represents them as specialized semantic nodes:
- Queries (
Query · User · FirstOrDefaultAsync())
- Entity Additions (
Add · Student)
- Entity Updates (
Update · Student)
- Entity Removals (
Delete · Student)
- Unit-of-Work Commits (
Commit · SaveChangesAsync())
Navigation & Views
Navigate to Source
Click the eye icon on supported nodes to jump directly to the target declaration or invocation in the Visual Studio code editor. Supports controller actions, interface declarations, concrete implementations, repositories, and EF Core method calls.
Overview vs. Deep Dive
- Overview Mode: Delivers a clean, condensed architectural view showing the core path from endpoint to storage.
- Deep Dive Mode: Exposes the full discovered call tree, allowing manual expansion and collapse of individual branches.
Requirements & Scope
| Category |
Details |
| Visual Studio |
17.14 or later (Windows x64) |
| Language / Target |
C# / ASP.NET Core |
| Current Scope |
Controller-based architectures |
| Upcoming / Unmodeled |
Minimal APIs, middleware pipelines, MediatR, gRPC, SignalR, Dapper, ADO.NET |
Marketplace Configuration Reference
- Type: Tools
- Categories: Coding, Productivity, Developer Tools
- Tags:
asp.net core, c#, roslyn, request flow, code visualization, architecture, ef core, source navigation, developer tools
- Preview Mode: Disabled
- Q&A: Enabled
