VI History Suite

Review the history of your LabVIEW VIs without leaving Visual Studio Code. VI History Suite lets you pick two saved versions of a .vi, .ctl, or .vit file from Git, confirms your comparison runtime is ready, and generates a visual LabVIEW comparison report you can read and share.

Requirements

• Visual Studio Code 1.90 or newer.
• A trusted Git repository containing the tracked .vi, .ctl, or .vit file you want to review, with at least two saved versions to compare.
• A LabVIEW comparison runtime, either:
  • Host — LabVIEW 2025 or newer installed on your machine with the LabVIEW CLI (Windows uses this by default), or
  • Docker — an NI LabVIEW container image that you select.

The extension only reads your runtime — it never installs LabVIEW, Docker, or any other tool for you.

Install

Install from the VS Code Extensions view, or run:

code --install-extension svelderrainruiz.vi-history-suite

Set up your comparison runtime

Run VI History: Set Up Comparison Runtime from the Command Palette, then in a terminal run:

vihs
vihs --validate

vihs lets you choose where comparisons run and confirms the runtime is ready:

• Host uses the LabVIEW already installed on your machine (the default on Windows). Most people use this.
• Docker uses an NI LabVIEW container image instead — choose this if you prefer an isolated runtime.

You can change the provider any time with VI History: Runtime & Report Settings.

Compare two revisions

1. Open a trusted Git repository that contains the .vi, .ctl, or .vit file you want to review.
2. Right-click that file and choose Review VI History (or use the editor title action). VI History looks at just that file instead of scanning every VI in the repository.
3. Select exactly two saved versions using the checkboxes.
4. Review the compare preflight.
5. Choose Compare.

Read and export the report

The report opens as a single self-contained page showing the differences between the two versions, with the difference images embedded inline. Use Export Comparison Report (HTML) to save a copy you can share.

Runtime safety checks

Before each comparison, VI History checks both selected versions and your runtime, then shows a clear status instead of failing partway through. When the runtime cannot safely produce a correct report, the comparison is blocked up front with guidance. Checks include:

• A running LabVIEW whose bitness (32- or 64-bit) does not match your selection — LabVIEW cannot start a second copy at a different bitness.
• A running LabVIEW whose year does not match your selection, so a comparison never attaches to the wrong LabVIEW on a machine with several installed.
• A selected Docker image your Docker engine cannot run, with a one-click Pick Image Version fix.
• VI Server (TCP) turned off in the selected LabVIEW, which would stop the LabVIEW CLI from connecting.

Each block offers a next step (such as Pick Runtime Provider or Pick Image Version) so you can fix the runtime without leaving the panel.

Help and feedback

• Trouble getting started? See TROUBLESHOOTING.md and FIRST-RUN.md.
• Questions or support: SUPPORT.md.
• Reporting a security issue: SECURITY.md.
• First-time feedback (install surface, VS Code version, first action, and any stale link): the onboarding tracker.

Contribute

VI History Suite is open source under BSD0 / 0BSD, and contributions are welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md to set up the source and docs/development.md for the development loop.

Source: https://github.com/LabVIEW-Community-CI-CD/vi-history-suite (Marketplace ID svelderrainruiz.vi-history-suite).