Entropy Monitor — VS Code Extension
Your codebase has a heartbeat. This extension shows it.
Entropy Monitor watches your TypeScript project for signs of disorder — tangled imports, copy-pasted code, and dead exports — and surfaces a live health score right in your status bar.
What it measures
| Signal |
What it detects |
| Coupling |
Import graph analysis — which files depend on too many others |
| Duplication |
AST-based clone detection — copy-pasted blocks across the codebase |
| Dead code |
Unused exports and unreachable files — code nobody calls |
Each signal scores 0–100. Lower is healthier. They average into one Overall Entropy score shown in your status bar at all times.
Features
- Live status bar score — see entropy at a glance without leaving your editor
- Sidebar health dashboard — four score cards with colour-coded bars, file counts, and scan history
- Auto-scan on open — scans your workspace 3 seconds after VS Code loads
- Scan on save — optional continuous monitoring as you write code
- One-click HTML report — generates a full interactive Chart.js dashboard and opens it in your browser
- Command palette integration — run scans manually anytime
Installation
Search Entropy Monitor in the VS Code Extensions panel, or install directly:
code --install-extension sudeshhansika.entropy-monitor-vscode
Requires entropy-monitor to be available via npx (no global install needed).
Usage
Once installed, open any TypeScript project. The extension activates automatically.
| What you see |
What it means |
♥ Entropy: 18/100 in green |
Healthy codebase |
⚠ Entropy: 52/100 in yellow |
Some disorder building up |
✗ Entropy: 78/100 in red |
Needs attention |
Click the status bar item to trigger a manual scan.
Open the Entropy Monitor icon in the activity bar to see the full breakdown.
Commands
Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) and search:
| Command |
Description |
Entropy Monitor: Scan Workspace |
Run a full scan immediately |
Entropy Monitor: Show Report |
Generate and open the HTML dashboard |
Settings
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
entropyMonitor.autoScan |
true |
Scan automatically when workspace opens |
entropyMonitor.scanOnSave |
false |
Re-scan every time a file is saved |
entropyMonitor.skipDuplication |
false |
Skip duplication analysis for faster scans |
entropyMonitor.skipDeadcode |
false |
Skip dead code analysis for faster scans |
How it works
VS Code workspace opens
↓
Extension activates (workspaceContains: **/*.ts)
↓
Runs: npx entropy-monitor scan /your/project --no-save
↓
Parses scores from CLI output
↓
Updates status bar + sidebar dashboard
The extension shells out to the entropy-monitor CLI — a separate npm package that does the actual analysis. This means the analysis engine stays up to date independently of the extension.
License
MIT © Sudesh Hansika
