US Stock Bar for VSCode

Real-time US stock quotes displayed directly in your VSCode status bar using accurate market data from Finnhub.

Features

• 📊 Real-time stock quotes - Live data for US stocks
• 💹 Multiple stocks - Monitor multiple symbols simultaneously
• 🎨 Color-coded changes - Green for gains, red for losses
• ⚡ Fast updates - Customizable refresh intervals (min 5 seconds)
• 🔔 Hover details - View detailed info on hover
• 🌐 Reliable data - Powered by Finnhub API

Installation

From Source

1. Clone this repository
2. Run npm install
3. Run npm run compile
4. Press F5 to open a new VSCode window with the extension loaded

From VSIX

1. Package the extension: vsce package
2. Install the .vsix file in VSCode

Setup

Get Free API Key

1. Visit Finnhub.io
2. Sign up for a free account
3. Copy your API key from the dashboard
4. In VSCode, open Settings (Cmd/Ctrl + ,)
5. Search for "US Stock Bar API Key"
6. Paste your API key

Free tier includes:

• 60 API calls per minute
• Real-time US stock quotes
• No credit card required

Usage

Commands

Open command palette (Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + P):

• US Stock Bar: Show - Start displaying stocks
• US Stock Bar: Hide - Stop displaying stocks
• US Stock Bar: Add Stock - Add a new stock symbol
• US Stock Bar: Refresh Now - Manually refresh data

Configuration

Open Settings (Cmd/Ctrl + ,) and search for "US Stock Bar":

{
  // List of stock symbols to monitor
  "us-stock-bar.stocks": ["AAPL", "GOOGL", "MSFT", "TSLA", "NVDA"],
  
  // Your Finnhub API key
  "us-stock-bar.apiKey": "your_api_key_here",
  
  // Update interval in milliseconds (minimum 5000)
  "us-stock-bar.updateInterval": 10000,
  
  // Show company name instead of symbol
  "us-stock-bar.showCompanyName": false,
  
  // Color for rising stocks
  "us-stock-bar.riseColor": "#26a69a",
  
  // Color for falling stocks
  "us-stock-bar.fallColor": "#ef5350"
}

Popular Stock Symbols

Tech Giants:

• AAPL (Apple)
• GOOGL (Google/Alphabet)
• MSFT (Microsoft)
• AMZN (Amazon)
• META (Meta/Facebook)
• NVDA (NVIDIA)
• TSLA (Tesla)

Index Funds:

• SPY (S&P 500 ETF)
• QQQ (NASDAQ-100 ETF)
• DIA (Dow Jones ETF)

Finance:

• JPM (JPMorgan Chase)
• BAC (Bank of America)
• GS (Goldman Sachs)

API Rate Limits

Finnhub free tier provides:

• 60 calls/minute
• 30 calls/second (burst)

With 5 stocks and 10-second intervals, you'll use ~30 calls/minute - well within limits.

Development

Project Structure

us-stock-bar/
├── src/
│   └── extension.ts       # Main extension code
├── package.json           # Extension manifest
├── tsconfig.json          # TypeScript config
└── README.md              # Documentation

Build Commands

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Compile TypeScript
npm run compile

# Watch mode (auto-compile on save)
npm run watch

# Package for distribution
vsce package

Testing

Press F5 in VSCode to launch Extension Development Host with your extension loaded.

Alternative Data Sources

If you want to use different APIs:

Yahoo Finance (Unofficial)

• Free but unstable
• No API key required
• Module: yahoo-finance2

Alpha Vantage

• 25 calls/day (very limited)
• Requires API key
• Good for testing only

IEX Cloud

• 50K credits/month free
• Requires API key
• More generous than Alpha Vantage

Polygon.io

• Free tier has 15-minute delay
• Paid tiers for real-time
• Very reliable

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

MIT License - See LICENSE file for details

Acknowledgments

• Inspired by stock-bar
• Data provided by Finnhub

Support

If you encounter issues:

1. Check your API key is valid
2. Verify symbols are correct US stock tickers
3. Check API rate limits
4. Open an issue on GitHub

Happy Trading! 📈

Disclaimer: This extension is for informational purposes only. Not financial advice.