Paste Review Reminder

Never forget to review code pasted from other sources (like genAI), or AI streamed directly in file.

VS Code Extension – Reminds you to review pasted or AI-generated code blocks across your workspace, allowing tracking and highlighting of these blocks per file.

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Screenshot

Here's how Paste Review Reminder highlights areas for review in your editor:

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Features

• Code Block Tracking: Automatically tracks pasted or AI-generated code blocks in your workspace.
• Decorations: Highlights tracked blocks in the editor for quick identification.
• Line Change Awareness: Lines are un-highlighted when touched by the cursor (clicked, selected).
• Intelligent Paste Detection: When re-pasting a large block (like a full file), the extension intelligently skips re-highlighting code that you have already reviewed, even if its position has changed.
• Per-File Storage: Saves blocks per file to a manifest (.pastereview.json), allowing Git versioning.
• Checksum Validation: Ensures saved blocks correspond to the current file content, preventing stale highlights.
• Git-Friendly: The saved manifest can be committed to source control to share review status with your team.

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Block Tracking Logic

The extension uses two distinct paths to determine whether a change constitutes a block of code requiring review:

1. Direct Paste Detection

This path detects a single, large content change that occurs instantly, which is characteristic of a manual paste operation.

• If a single text change introduces more than the number of lines set by pasteReviewReminder.minimumPasteLines (default: 20 lines), the block is immediately tracked and highlighted.

2. Fast Typing / Streaming AI Detection

This path tracks continuous, rapid changes over a short duration, which is characteristic of AI code generation streaming.

• The extension tracks the total number of characters added and the duration of continuous typing activity.
• If, after a brief pause (100ms timeout), BOTH conditions are met, the block is tracked:
  • Speed: The calculated typing speed exceeds the pasteReviewReminder.typingSpeedThreshold (default: 110 characters/sec).
  • Size: The total number of affected lines exceeds the pasteReviewReminder.minimumStreamingLines (default: 20 lines).

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Usage

1. Paste or generate code in your files.
2. The extension automatically tracks the new blocks.
3. Tracked blocks are highlighted in the editor.
4. Move your cursor to a highlighted line or select a block of lines to mark them as "reviewed" and remove the highlight.
5. If you re-paste a file, previously reviewed sections will remain un-highlighted.

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Configuration

You can customize the extension via Settings (Cmd+, on Mac, Ctrl+, on Windows/Linux) under Paste Review Reminder. Available configuration options:

• Enable Intelligent Paste (pasteReviewReminder.enableIntelligentPaste) When enabled, pasting a large block of code (like a full file) will intelligently skip re-highlighting lines that you have already reviewed. Default: true.

• Minimum Paste Lines (pasteReviewReminder.minimumPasteLines) Minimum number of lines in a paste to trigger block highlighting. Default: 20.

• Minimum Streaming Lines (pasteReviewReminder.minimumStreamingLines) Minimum number of lines typed quickly (or streamed from AI completions) to trigger block highlighting. Default: 20.

• Typing Speed Threshold (pasteReviewReminder.typingSpeedThreshold) Characters per second threshold to detect fast typing for AI completions. Default: 110.

• Highlight Color (pasteReviewReminder.highlightColor) Background color used to highlight blocks. Note: This setting may not be implemented yet. Default: rgba(255, 200, 100, 0.15).

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Storage

• Manifest file: .pastereview.json (created in your workspace root)
• Stores per-file blocks with checksums to detect content changes and prevent stale highlights.

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Development & Installation

For manual installation or testing a built VSIX package:

1. Build the VSIX Package

To build the distributable .vsix file, you need Node.js and the VS Code Extension Manager (vsce) installed globally.

1. Install vsce (if necessary):

   npm install -g vsce

2. Compile TypeScript and Build: Run the following command from the root of the project directory. This executes the vscode:prepublish script defined in your package.json (which runs npm run compile) and then packages the result.

   vsce package

   This command will generate a file named similarly to paste-review-reminder-0.0.1.vsix in your project root.

2. Install the Extension from VSIX

Once the .vsix file is built, you can install it into VS Code without going through the Marketplace.

Method A: Using the VS Code GUI (Recommended)

1. Open VS Code.
2. Go to the Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X or Cmd+Shift+X).
3. Click the ... (More Actions) menu in the top-right of the Extensions panel.
4. Select Install from VSIX....
5. Navigate to your project root and select the built .vsix file.
6. Click Reload when prompted to activate the extension.

Method B: Using the Command Line

1. Open your terminal.
2. Run the VS Code command, pointing to the built file:

   code --install-extension /path/to/paste-review-reminder-0.0.1.vsix

3. Open the VS Code Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P or Cmd+ShiftP) and run Developer: Reload Window to activate the extension.