TaoScope Coding Assessment
A VS Code extension for technical hiring workflows. TaoScope Coding Assessment connects candidates to timed assessments, coding challenges, and evaluation sessions backed by the TaoScope website API.
Extension ID: taoscope.taoscope-coding-assessment
Features
- Hiring dashboard — View pipeline stats and open role-based assessments from a dedicated editor panel.
- Ticket registration — Start a session with an assessment ticket from your job application.
- Knowledge queries — Structured technical questions aligned to job requirements.
- Coding challenges — In-editor problems with starter code, local public test runs, and automated scoring.
- Focus monitoring — Detects when candidates leave the assessment panel (editor, other apps, AI assistants) and applies score penalties.
- Auto-save — Periodically persists assessment progress during long sessions.
- Sidebar integration — Quick actions from the TaoScope activity bar.
Requirements
- VS Code
^1.85.0 or compatible editors (Cursor, VSCodium, etc.)
- Trusted workspace — Virtual and untrusted workspaces are not supported.
- TaoScope API — Served by the TaoScope website at
/api/v1/* (see Backend setup).
Installation
From the Marketplace
Search for TaoScope Coding Assessment in the Extensions view, or install by ID:
taoscope.taoscope-coding-assessment
Marketplace: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=taoscope.taoscope-coding-assessment
From a VSIX package
code --install-extension taoscope-coding-assessment-0.2.0.vsix
Quick start
- Apply on taoscope.com/work-with-us and save your assessment ticket.
- Install this extension.
- Open the TaoScope activity bar → Start Coding Assessment → enter your ticket ID.
Default API URL: https://www.taoscope.com (API at /api/v1/*). For local website dev, set taoscope.apiUrl to http://localhost:3000.
Commands
| Command |
Description |
TaoScope: Open Hiring Dashboard |
Open the hiring dashboard in the editor area |
TaoScope: Start Coding Assessment |
Open the dashboard and prompt for ticket registration |
TaoScope: Reset Assessment Session |
Clear the current session and workspace state |
Configuration
Open Settings and search for taoscope, or add entries to settings.json:
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
taoscope.apiUrl |
https://www.taoscope.com |
Base URL of the TaoScope website (API at /api/v1/*) |
taoscope.autoSaveIntervalSeconds |
15 |
Auto-save interval for candidate progress (5–120 seconds) |
taoscope.enableActivityTimeline |
true |
Record activity events during assessments |
taoscope.enableLocalPublicTests |
true |
Allow candidates to run public test cases locally |
Local development override:
{
"taoscope.apiUrl": "https://taoscope.com"
}
Backend setup
The API runs inside the taoscope-website Next.js app (no separate API server required).
Local development
cd taoscope-website
cp .env.example .env.local
# Set MONGODB_URI, AWS S3, SMTP, etc.
npm install
npm run dev
Verify the API:
curl http://localhost:3000/api/health
Seed data (optional):
npm run seed:careers
npm run seed:test-categories
API routes used by this extension
| Method |
Path |
Purpose |
GET |
/api/health |
Service health check |
GET |
/api/v1/assessments/queries |
Knowledge assessment queries |
GET |
/api/v1/careers/roles |
Available job roles |
GET |
/api/v1/careers/roles/:id/stats |
Role hiring stats |
POST |
/api/v1/careers/ticket/lookup |
Validate assessment ticket |
POST |
/api/v1/careers/generate-rand-coding |
Random coding snapshot |
POST |
/api/v1/careers/assessment/submit |
Submit scores and focus penalties |
Development
cd tao-extension
npm install
npm run compile
Press F5 in VS Code to launch an Extension Development Host.
| Script |
Description |
npm run compile |
Compile TypeScript to out/ |
npm run watch |
Compile on file changes |
npm run package |
Build taoscope-coding-assessment-<version>.vsix |
npm run publish |
Publish current package.json version to the Marketplace |
npm run publish:patch |
Bump patch version and publish |
npm run publish:minor |
Bump minor version and publish |
Publishing
- Update
CHANGELOG.md and bump version in package.json.
npm run compile && npm run package — test the VSIX locally.npx vsce login taoscope (once, with Azure DevOps PAT scoped to Marketplace Manage).npm run publish
Architecture
┌─────────────────────┐
│ VS Code / Cursor │
│ tao-extension │
└──────────┬──────────┘
│ HTTP (taoscope.apiUrl)
▼
┌─────────────────────┐
│ taoscope-website │
│ /api/v1/* │
└─────────────────────┘
Support
License
MIT © TaoScope
