Inspect GitHub Actions workflow runs, jobs, and logs without leaving VS Code.
ActionLens is a powerful Visual Studio Code extension that brings the full power of GitHub Actions directly into your editor. Stop context-switching to your browser just to check why a build failed.
✨ Features
- 🚀 Real-time Workflow Monitoring: View the status of your GitHub Actions runs instantly from the VS Code sidebar.
- 🎯 Smart Error Detection: Automatically highlights the exact lines where your CI/CD pipeline failed, so you don't have to scroll through thousands of lines of logs.
- 🤖 AI-Ready Debugging: With a single click, copy a pre-formatted "AI Debug Prompt" containing your repository context, branch name, and the exact error snippet. Paste it into your favorite LLM (Claude, ChatGPT) for an instant fix!
- 🔒 Secure & Local: Works with your local Git repository and uses your Personal Access Token securely stored in the VS Code credential manager.
🚀 Getting Started
- Install ActionLens from the VS Code Marketplace.
- Open a project that has a Git remote pointing to GitHub.
- Click the ActionLens icon in the Activity Bar.
- Click Sign in with GitHub or Enter Token Manually to authenticate.
- Watch your workflow runs stream right into your editor!
❓ Q & A (Frequently Asked Questions)
Q: Why do I need to authenticate? Can't I view public repositories?
A: While GitHub allows viewing public logs anonymously, doing so is heavily rate-limited (60 requests per hour). Authenticating gives you a generous rate limit (5,000 requests per hour) and allows you to view logs for private repositories securely.
Q: How do I authenticate manually with a Token?
A: You can generate a Personal Access Token (PAT) from your GitHub Developer Settings.
- For Fine-grained PATs, you only need
Actions: Readpermission. - For Classic PATs, you need the
reposcope. Once generated, click "Enter Token Manually" in the ActionLens sidebar and paste it there.
Q: Does this support GitHub Enterprise Server (GHES)?
A: Yes! ActionLens automatically detects your remote Git URL. If your repository points to a GitHub Enterprise host, it will attempt to communicate with that specific host.
Q: How does the "Copy AI Debug Prompt" feature work?
A: When a job fails, ActionLens parses the log, finds the exact error block, and bundles it with context about your repository (e.g., branch name, workflow name). It copies a ready-to-paste prompt to your clipboard so your AI assistant knows exactly what went wrong without you explaining it manually.
Q: Will this extension send my code to the cloud?
A: No. ActionLens only communicates directly with the official GitHub API to fetch your logs. We do not store, track, or send your code or logs to any third-party servers. The AI prompt feature simply copies text to your local clipboard.
📄 License
This extension is licensed under the MIT License.