nestjs-devtools

Supercharge your NestJS workflow inside VS Code. Quickly insert smart logger statements, navigate every file in your project, generate boilerplate, and browse methods — all without leaving the editor.

Built for fast navigation in large NestJS codebases — never touch the file tree again.

✨ Features

🐛 Logger Helper

Insert this.logger.debug(), .log(), .warn(), .error(), or .verbose() statements with a single chord. The log message automatically includes the enclosing class name, so you always know where it came from.

It's also smart about where the log goes. If you select a variable on a line that's part of a multi-line statement (a chained findOne({...}) call, a multi-line if, a ternary, …), the logger is inserted after the statement actually ends — never in the middle of it.

Example — inside UserService.findOne():

const user = await this.userRepository.findOne({
  where: { email },
  select: { id: true, email: true },
});
// select "user", press Cmd+L Cmd+D
this.logger.debug("🔍 UserService ~ user", user);

Auto-declare the logger

If the enclosing class doesn't already have a private readonly logger property, the extension asks:

No logger found in UserService. Add it automatically?

Saying Yes will:

1. Add Logger to the existing @nestjs/common import — or create the import if @nestjs/common isn't imported.
2. Insert private readonly logger = new Logger(UserService.name); right after the class's opening brace.
3. Then insert the requested log statement after the current statement ends.

Logger methods

🗂️ Sidebar TreeView

A dedicated NestJS DevTools panel in the activity bar shows your full module graph as an expandable tree — always visible, no command needed:

• Top-level modules appear at the root, sorted alphabetically.
• Nested modules appear as collapsible children above a module's own files.
• Each module's files are grouped by category (Core NestJS, Entities, DTOs, …) with ThemeIcons matching their type.
• Clicking any file opens it immediately.
• The title bar has a Refresh button and a Generate File button.
• The tree refreshes automatically when .ts files are created or deleted.

🧭 Module File Searcher

Navigate between files inside a NestJS module without touching the file tree.

🔎 Search from the current file

1. From any file inside a module, press Cmd+L Cmd+K / Ctrl+L Ctrl+K.
2. A picker lists every .ts file in that module, grouped by category with live counts (e.g. DTOs (3)).
3. Type the shortcut letter for the file type you want (e.g. c for Controller, dt for DTO) to jump straight to it — no Enter needed.

📦 Browse all modules

1. Press Cmd+L Cmd+M / Ctrl+L Ctrl+M — or click Modules in the status bar.
2. Select a module to drill into its file list.

🧩 Nested module navigation

• Nested modules appear as selectable entries above the file list, each showing its file count and a button to open its .module.ts directly.
• Selecting one drills into that module's own file list.
• A Back entry steps back up to the parent module.
• A breadcrumb title shows your current path (e.g. blog › comment).

⚡ Quick access

• Status bar item — one click opens the module browser.
• CodeLens above @Module(...) shows live file and nested module counts. Clicking it opens the file browser for that module. Counts are cached and refresh automatically when files are added or deleted.

🔍 Search all modules

Press Cmd+L Cmd+A / Ctrl+L Ctrl+A to fuzzy-search every file across every module in the workspace at once — useful when you know the file name but not which module it lives in.

⚙️ Generate NestJS File

Press Cmd+L Cmd+N / Ctrl+L Ctrl+N (or right-click a module in the Sidebar TreeView) to scaffold a new NestJS file in two steps:

1. Pick a file type — Service, Controller, Module, Guard, Gateway, Interceptor, Pipe, Filter, Resolver, Decorator, Entity, DTO, Enum, Interface, Repository, Middleware, or Strategy. Custom types from nestjs-devtools.customTypes appear here too.
2. Enter a name — the file is created as kebab-case.type.ts with a fully typed class body, correct NestJS imports, and a PascalCase class name derived from your input.

If the file already exists you are prompted before overwriting.

🔍 Method Searcher

Press Cmd+L Cmd+J / Ctrl+L Ctrl+J to open a compact QuickPick listing every method in the active file, grouped into three sections:

• Routes — HTTP handler methods (@Get, @Post, @Put, @Patch, @Delete, …). Each row shows the HTTP method icon and the full route URL (controller prefix + method path, e.g. /blog/:id), so you can see your entire API surface at a glance. Guards and interceptors appear in the description column.
• Decorated — methods with non-HTTP decorators.
• Methods — plain methods, getters, setters, constructors, and arrow function properties.

Other features:

• The method your cursor is inside is pre-selected when the picker opens.
• Arrowing through the list live-previews each method by scrolling the editor to that line without closing the picker.
• Async methods are marked with ~, private/protected with a lock icon.
• The title bar shows blog.controller.ts · 10 methods · 9 routes.
• Multi-line method signatures (params spanning multiple lines) are handled correctly.

🗂️ Recognized file types

Plural suffixes are also recognized (.guards.ts, .pipes.ts, …).

⚙️ Extension Settings

nestjs-devtools.customTypes

Add custom NestJS file types to the module browser and file generator. Custom types merge with built-in types at runtime — no extension reload needed.

Type: array (default: [])

Each item requires:

Example:

{
  "nestjs-devtools.customTypes": [
    {
      "suffix": "handler",
      "typeLabel": "Handler",
      "shortcut": "h",
      "category": "Other",
    },
    {
      "suffix": "validator",
      "typeLabel": "Validator",
      "shortcut": "v",
      "category": "Other",
    },
  ],
}

⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts

All shortcuts can be customised via Preferences: Open Keyboard Shortcuts (search for nestjs-log-helper).

📦 Installation

From the VS Code Marketplace

1. Open VS Code.
2. Go to the Extensions view (Cmd+Shift+X / Ctrl+Shift+X).
3. Search for NestJS DevTools.
4. Click Install.

From a .vsix file

1. Build with vsce package.
2. In VS Code, open the Extensions view, click …, and choose Install from VSIX….

🛠️ Development

git clone https://github.com/pouryazardosht/nestjs-devtools.git
cd nestjs-devtools
npm install

Open the folder in VS Code and press F5 to launch the Extension Development Host.

Project structure

src/
├── extension.ts # Entry point: commands, status bar, CodeLens, tree, watcher
├── constants.ts # LOGGER_METHODS, NEST_TYPES, getEffectiveNestTypes()
├── statusBar.ts # Status bar item factory
├── commands/
│ ├── insertLogger.ts # Logger insertion + auto-declaration
│ ├── moduleSearcher.ts # Browse all modules + nested navigation
│ ├── searchModuleFiles.ts # Search files in current module
│ ├── searchAllModules.ts # Project-wide fuzzy search
│ ├── generateNestFile.ts # File scaffold generator with templates
│ └── methodSearcher.ts # Method/route browser for active file
├── providers/
│ ├── moduleCodeLensProvider.ts # CodeLens above @Module() with caching
│ └── moduleTreeProvider.ts # Sidebar TreeView data provider
└── utils/
├── getEnclosingClassName.ts # Brace-depth class name detection
├── loggerDeclaration.ts # Logger import and property auto-insert
└── quickPickHelpers.ts # ThemeIcons, grouping, breadcrumb, shortcuts

Build scripts

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue to discuss your idea before submitting a pull request.

📄 License

MIT – see the LICENSE file for details.

Happy debugging! 🚀🐛