Work

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

Year: 2025

Type: preprint

Abstract: 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.

Source: arXiv (Cornell University)

Authors: Basha, Manaal, Ribeiro, Aimeê M., Javahar, Jeena, de Souza, Cleidson R. B., Rodríguez-Pérez, Gema

Institutions: University of British Columbia, University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus, Universidade Federal do Pará

Language: English

Topic: Software Engineering Research

Subfield: Information Systems

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico

OpenAlex ID: W7091187980

Cites:

Cited by:

Related to: