DevTrace

DevTrace records major VS Code operation metadata as local JSONL for later human or agent-assisted review. It records operations, not development contents, and does not upload logs or send telemetry.

Install and start

Install DevTrace from the VS Code Marketplace, then open a workspace. Recording starts automatically when the extension activates.

Run DevTrace: Open Log Folder from the Command Palette to view the local log directory. Run DevTrace: Toggle Recording to pause or resume recording.

What DevTrace records

Each event includes an event type, sequence number, timestamp, and random per-window ID. Depending on the observed operation, an event can also contain:

• file URIs or paths for file focus, file operations, and coalesced edits;
• terminal IDs and lifecycle metadata;
• Task names and Debug session IDs;
• Git root, branch, and HEAD metadata for repositories already recognized by VS Code Git; and
• command line, working directory when available, confidence, and exit code when available from VS Code Shell Integration.

Logs remain under the extension host's VS Code global storage. Export writes raw, filtered JSONL to a file location selected by the user.

What DevTrace does not record

DevTrace does not record source text, diffs or patches, terminal output, commands executed inside an interactive SSH process, AI prompts or responses, diagnostics, cursor/selection/scroll history, search queries, filesystem-wide changes, productivity metrics, ticket summaries, or cloud data.

Typing is coalesced into edit START/END events instead of per-keystroke records. START and END events can be unmatched. Command masking is best-effort and does not guarantee that every secret in a command line is removed.

See Privacy for the complete data and storage statement.

Remote workspaces

For WSL, SSH, and Dev Containers, install and enable DevTrace in the workspace-side extension host for that VS Code window. Logs are written to that host's extension storage.

DevTrace does not inspect the SSH transport. An outer ssh ... command can be recorded as ordinary command metadata, but commands entered inside that interactive SSH process and terminal output are not captured.

Commands

Limitations

• Observation depends on the events exposed by VS Code and, for command metadata, VS Code Shell Integration.
• Git context is limited to repositories already recognized by VS Code Git.
• DevTrace has no automatic retention policy.
• Export filters and orders raw events; it does not pair operations, infer intent, or summarize activity.

Documentation and support

• Design and event model
• Implementation plan
• Privacy
• Support
• Changelog
• Issue tracker

DevTrace is available under the MIT License.