VS Code WinGet log viewer tool by JohnMcPMS · Pull Request #6149 · microsoft/winget-cli

JohnMcPMS · 2026-04-16T17:42:18Z

A VS Code log viewer for WinGet logs (default for WinGet-*.log and WinGetCOM-*.log). I've wanted this for quite some time and with some ~~vibe~~ experienced professional guided AI coding I have this. Up front, I don't know if we will be able to put it in the VS Code marketplace at this time due to resource constraints. It should be easy enough to make a local .vsix with npm run package from the directory and install the generated file.

It supports:

Line filtering and term highlighting search
Level filtering and coloring
Channel filtering and badges
Subchannel filtering (mostly for configuration logs)
Log line time deltas
Tail viewing
Line wraps
Jumping between error lines

There is a debug command that generates log lines of every type (shown in the image). It includes a --follow argument that generates lines every few seconds for a while to check the tail feature.

There is one significant product change, which is outputting the log level to the file now, of the format <L> where L is the level character:

2026-04-15 11:17:40.453 <I> [FAIL] Log viewer test: Failure channel

Future

Work required to make this available broadly:

Automated tests built in the VS code test infrastructure
Public pipeline execution of said tests
Internal pipeline build, sign, package validation testing
Likely some internal process for acceptance to publish under Microsoft organization
Internal publishing pipeline updates

Microsoft Reviewers: Open in CodeFlow

florelis · 2026-04-17T20:56:19Z

+
+- No inline `style="..."` attributes in HTML — **always use CSS classes or `element.style.property = value`** via CSSOM
+- Script/style nonces are replaced at runtime in `logViewerProvider.ts`
+- After any edit to `media/viewer.js`, validate syntax: `node --check media/viewer.js`


Why this file in particular?

I told it to leave instructions for itself 🤷

florelis · 2026-04-17T21:03:30Z

+| `FAIL`  | red               | 🔴 |
+| `CLI`   | blue              | 🔵 |
+| `SQL`   | purple            | 🟣 |
+| `REPO`  | light-blue/cyan   | 🩵 |
+| `YAML`  | yellow            | 🟡 |
+| `CORE`  | white/light-gray  | ⬜ |
+| `TEST`  | green             | 🟢 |
+| `CONF`  | gray              | 🩶 |
+| `WORK`  | orange            | 🟠 |


It bothers me that not all the emoji are the same shame...

florelis · 2026-04-17T21:05:06Z

        }
    }
+
+// ── LogViewerTestCommand ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────


Do we have these type of comments elsewhere?

florelis · 2026-04-17T21:08:55Z

+        AICLI_LOG(CLI, Info, << "[SQL ] Subchannel test: database query initiated for package lookup");
+        AICLI_LOG(CLI, Info, << "[REPO] Subchannel test: fetching package metadata from remote source");
+
+        // ── Continuation lines (newlines in the message become continuation rows) ──
+        AICLI_LOG(Core, Warning, << "Package installation encountered multiple issues:\n"
+            "  - Dependency 'vcredist' version 14.0.30704 not found in any configured source\n"
+            "  - Insufficient disk space on C:\\ (requires 512 MB, available 203 MB)\n"
+            "  - Installation directory is read-only: C:\\Program Files\\TestPackage\\1.0.0");
+
+        // ── Long line (should require horizontal scroll or wrap in the viewer) ─
+        AICLI_LOG(Workflow, Info, << "Resolving full package dependency graph: The following packages are required "
+            "as dependencies and will be installed in sequence if not already present on the system: "
+            "Microsoft.VCRedist.2015+.x64 (>= 14.0.30704), Microsoft.DotNet.Runtime.7 (>= 7.0.14), "
+            "Microsoft.WebView2.Runtime (>= 113.0.1774.35), Microsoft.WindowsAppRuntime.1.4 (>= 1.4.231219000). "
+            "Total estimated download size: 847 MB across 4 installers.");


I don't see why you would use test strings that look like real logs instead of just quoting the classics like the bee movie script

florelis · 2026-04-17T21:11:27Z

+            // Every 5 iterations: multi-line status summary (continuation lines).
+            if (i % 5 == 0)
+            {
+                AICLI_LOG(Core, Info, << "Follow iteration " << i << " status summary:\n"
+                    "  Packages checked: " << (i * 7) << "\n"
+                    "  Updates available: " << (i % 3) << "\n"
+                    "  Sources refreshed: 2");
+            }
+
+            // Every 20 iterations: simulated error with a stack trace (continuation lines + HRESULT).
+            if (i % 20 == 0)
+            {
+                AICLI_LOG(Fail, Error, << "Simulated transient error at follow iteration " << i << " [HRESULT 0x80070005]:\n"
+                    "  at AppInstaller::Repository::SourceList::OpenSource(std::string_view)\n"
+                    "  at AppInstaller::CLI::Workflow::OpenSourcesForSearch(Context&)\n"
+                    "  at AppInstaller::CLI::LogViewerTestCommand::ExecuteInternal(Context&)");
+            }


You had the perfect opportunity to do FizzBuzz in your real job and you didn't take it...

florelis · 2026-04-17T21:12:19Z

    protected:
        void ExecuteInternal(Execution::Context& context) const override;
    };
+    // Tests the log viewer extension by emitting logs that exercise all channels, levels, subchannels,


Nit: add blank line before

florelis · 2026-04-17T21:19:38Z

Shouldn't *.js and *.js.map files also be in the .gitignore?

Do you mean the .vscodeignore? Maybe, but understanding that is part of the "things required to actually ship this".

I didn't realize that this wasn't compiled from a .ts. But the ones in out/ definitely don't need to be checked in.

JohnMcPMS added 2 commits April 15, 2026 11:48

log viewer tool, level added to log lines, debug logging command

8ea81f0

Add packaging and fixes

6d2630d

JohnMcPMS requested a review from a team as a code owner April 16, 2026 17:42

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spelling and instructions dump from session memory

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instructions spelling

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florelis reviewed Apr 17, 2026

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VS Code WinGet log viewer tool#6149

VS Code WinGet log viewer tool#6149
JohnMcPMS wants to merge 4 commits intomicrosoft:masterfrom
JohnMcPMS:vscode-log-ext

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JohnMcPMS commented Apr 16, 2026 •

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