ContextDigger for VS Code

A graphical front end for ContextDigger that shows focus areas, budgets, and governed context bundles directly inside the editor.

What the extension does

The VS Code extension sits on top of the ContextDigger CLI and your local .cdg/ directory. It does not talk to any external service. It gives you:

  • Current focus view: see all files in the active focus area, with budget usage and provenance.
  • Sidebar panels: areas, continuation contracts, insights, metrics, and reports in dedicated views.
  • Right click actions: focus on a folder, add or remove files from focus, show provenance for a file.
  • Copy or export context: one click copy of governed bundles for Claude, Cursor, Copilot, or any other assistant.

How it talks to ContextDigger

Under the hood, the extension:

  • Detects the current workspace root in VS Code.
  • Calls the local contextdigger CLI to run commands like dig, continue, and provenance.
  • Reads the resulting governed bundles and metrics from the .cdg/ directory.
  • Updates tree views, status bar, and metrics panels without sending data anywhere else.

Install from this repository

The extension is shipped in this repository as a VSIX package so you can install it locally, even before any marketplace listing.

  1. Install the CLI: pip install contextdigger.
  2. In VS Code, open the Extensions view and choose Install from VSIX.
  3. Select the latest file in contextdigger/vscode-extension/contextdigger-0.2.1.vsix.
  4. Open a project, then run ContextDigger: Initialize Project from the command palette.

For full details and screenshots, see the README in contextdigger/vscode-extension/README.md.

When to use the extension

  • You spend most of your day in VS Code and want a visual view of focus areas and budgets.
  • You prefer right click and panels instead of running all ContextDigger commands in the terminal.
  • You want to copy governed bundles into AI tools without leaving the editor.

If you are happy living in the terminal or in MCP based tools, you can keep using the CLI and MCP server without the extension. All three surfaces share the same governed context model.