VS Code Extensions
Element to Code

Element to Code

by PatriciaTani

Open the React source of a selected element from a local dev app in VS Code.

Downloads

2

Rating

— (0)

Version

0.1.1

Last updated

Jul 23, 2026

Click any element on a website and jump to the code where that component lives in VS Code. Requires the Chrome Extension.

How it works

This extension runs a small loopback HTTP bridge (bound to 127.0.0.1) that the Chrome extension calls, authenticated with a per-machine pairing token. When you select an element in the browser, the browser sends candidate source locations; this extension matches them against files in your open workspace and opens the best one at the right line.

The browser is treated as untrusted: the bridge only ever opens files inside your open workspace folders, and never accepts an arbitrary path. See docs/security.md in the repository.

Setup

  1. Open your project as the VS Code workspace.
  2. Click the E2C item in the bottom-right status bar (or run Element to Code: Pair Browser) — it copies a pairing token to your clipboard.
  3. Paste the token into the Chrome extension's options page.

Chrome and VS Code must run on the same machine.

Commands

  • Element to Code: Pair Browser — copy the pairing token
  • Element to Code: Show Connection Status
  • Element to Code: Restart Local Bridge
  • Element to Code: Reset Pairing Token
  • Element to Code: Show Diagnostic Output

Settings

See elementToCode.* in Settings — bridge port, auto-open thresholds, and the security.allowOutsideWorkspace guard (off by default).

Compatibility

Resolves source for React dev apps that expose development metadata: React 19 (_debugStack, e.g. Vite / TanStack Start) and Next.js (App and Pages Router, Webpack and Turbopack). Production/minified builds are out of scope.

Related extensions