A VS Code extension that answers "where is this .vue component used?" for Nuxt projects with auto-imported components — the case the built-in tooling and Volar's file-references can't reliably do.

A CodeLens on the <template> tag: N references.
Clicking it opens the floating peek window with every usage.
cmd/ctrl+click on the <template> tag jumps to usages (single usage navigates; multiple opens a peek list).

How it works

Every source file is AST-scanned (@vue/compiler-sfc for templates, @babel/parser for scripts) into one targetVueFile -> usage locations index:

Template tags (primary). Component tags resolve first against the file's own default imports (import Foo from './Foo.vue' → <Foo/> / <foo/>), then against Nuxt's generated components.d.ts — the authoritative component-name -> file map (so <BaseButton/>, kebab <base-button/>, and shadcn <Button/> all resolve exactly as Nuxt resolves them). <component :is="Foo"> / :is="'foo-card'" resolve too when is is a static string, a string literal, or a locally imported / registry name.
Imports. import specifiers (incl. dynamic imports and re-exports) resolve via relative paths + tsconfig/jsconfig/.nuxt/tsconfig.json / Nuxt 4.1+ .nuxt/tsconfig.app.json aliases, covering composables and components imported from .ts/.js files.

A FileSystemWatcher reindexes changed files incrementally; a second watcher reloads the registry whenever Nuxt regenerates components.d.ts.

Requirements

Because the primary path relies on components.d.ts, run the dev server (or nuxt prepare) at least once so .nuxt/[types/]components.d.ts exists. It supports both the classic .nuxt/components.d.ts and the Nuxt 4.1+ .nuxt/types/components.d.ts location (including the off-by-one relative-path quirk) by resolving each entry against disk.

Count semantics

References are <Tag> occurrences across templates — for auto-imported and explicitly imported components alike, so navigation always lands on a real usage. An import site itself only counts when the importing file doesn't use the component in its template (e.g. route configs, defineAsyncComponent wrappers, re-exports).

Run it

npm install
npm run compile   # or: npm run watch
npm test          # headless suite against the fixture repos in test/

Press F5 to launch an Extension Development Host, open your Nuxt repo there, open any component under components/.

Package / install locally

npm run deploy   # typecheck + esbuild bundle + vsce package
code --install-extension vue-component-references-0.1.0.vsix

Settings

Setting	Default	Purpose
`vueRefs.include`	`*/.{vue,ts,js,mjs,cjs,tsx,jsx}`	Files scanned
`vueRefs.exclude`	`/{node_modules,dist,.nuxt,.output,.git,coverage}/`	Ignored files
`vueRefs.scanTemplates`	`true`	Resolve `<Tag>` usages via `components.d.ts` (auto-imports)
`vueRefs.maxFileSizeKB`	`512`	Skip files larger than this while indexing (`0` = no limit)

Command palette: "Vue Refs: Rebuild reference index" to force a full rebuild.

Performance

The index is cached per workspace (mtime-invalidated), so after the first cold build (~seconds on a large monorepo, non-blocking) subsequent startups restore in milliseconds and only changed files re-scan. Each rebuild logs a timing summary to the Vue Component References output channel.

Limits / next steps

<component :is="someExpression"> with a computed/dynamic expression can't be resolved statically (literals and identifier bindings are handled).
Namespaced/icon component names (IconMdi:check) from unplugin-icons are parsed but won't match ordinary tag scans; harmless.