CodeWatcher: IDE Telemetry Data Extraction Tool for Understanding Coding Interactions with LLMs

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Basha, Manaal, Ribeiro, Aimeê M., Javahar, Jeena, de Souza, Cleidson R. B., Rodríguez-Pérez, Gema
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Basha, Manaal
Ribeiro, Aimeê M.
Javahar, Jeena
de Souza, Cleidson R. B.
Rodríguez-Pérez, Gema
author_facet Basha, Manaal
Ribeiro, Aimeê M.
Javahar, Jeena
de Souza, Cleidson R. B.
Rodríguez-Pérez, Gema
contents Understanding how developers interact with code generation tools (CGTs) requires detailed, real-time data on programming behavior which is often difficult to collect without disrupting workflow. We present \textit{CodeWatcher}, a lightweight, unobtrusive client-server system designed to capture fine-grained interaction events from within the Visual Studio Code (VS Code) editor. \textit{CodeWatcher} logs semantically meaningful events such as insertions made by CGTs, deletions, copy-paste actions, and focus shifts, enabling continuous monitoring of developer activity without modifying user workflows. The system comprises a VS Code plugin, a Python-based RESTful API, and a MongoDB backend, all containerized for scalability and ease of deployment. By structuring and timestamping each event, \textit{CodeWatcher} enables post-hoc reconstruction of coding sessions and facilitates rich behavioral analyses, including how and when CGTs are used during development. This infrastructure is crucial for supporting research on responsible AI, developer productivity, and the human-centered evaluation of CGTs. Please find the demo, diagrams, and tool here: https://osf.io/j2kru/overview.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_11536
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle CodeWatcher: IDE Telemetry Data Extraction Tool for Understanding Coding Interactions with LLMs
Basha, Manaal
Ribeiro, Aimeê M.
Javahar, Jeena
de Souza, Cleidson R. B.
Rodríguez-Pérez, Gema
Software Engineering
Artificial Intelligence
Understanding how developers interact with code generation tools (CGTs) requires detailed, real-time data on programming behavior which is often difficult to collect without disrupting workflow. We present \textit{CodeWatcher}, a lightweight, unobtrusive client-server system designed to capture fine-grained interaction events from within the Visual Studio Code (VS Code) editor. \textit{CodeWatcher} logs semantically meaningful events such as insertions made by CGTs, deletions, copy-paste actions, and focus shifts, enabling continuous monitoring of developer activity without modifying user workflows. The system comprises a VS Code plugin, a Python-based RESTful API, and a MongoDB backend, all containerized for scalability and ease of deployment. By structuring and timestamping each event, \textit{CodeWatcher} enables post-hoc reconstruction of coding sessions and facilitates rich behavioral analyses, including how and when CGTs are used during development. This infrastructure is crucial for supporting research on responsible AI, developer productivity, and the human-centered evaluation of CGTs. Please find the demo, diagrams, and tool here: https://osf.io/j2kru/overview.
title CodeWatcher: IDE Telemetry Data Extraction Tool for Understanding Coding Interactions with LLMs
topic Software Engineering
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.11536