MSBuild Binlog Analyzer for VS Code

Analyze MSBuild binary logs (.binlog) with GitHub Copilot Chat and MCP tools — right from VS Code.

Preview — This extension is under active development. Feedback welcome!

Quick Start

1. Install this extension (requires VS Code 1.99+ with GitHub Copilot and .NET SDK)
2. Open a .binlog — via Binlog: Load File (Ctrl+Shift+P), Build & Collect Binlog, or from Structured Log Viewer → Open in VS Code
3. Use @binlog in Copilot Chat:

@binlog why did the build fail?
@binlog what are the slowest targets?
@binlog /perf

The BinlogInsights.Mcp server (28 analysis tools) is auto-installed on first use.

What You Get

Feature	Description
@binlog Chat	Ask Copilot about errors, performance, targets, imports, NuGet issues — with slash commands like /errors, /perf, /timeline, /compare
Build & Collect	Build a project and capture a .binlog in one step
Binlog Explorer	Sidebar tree with project → target → task hierarchy, errors, warnings, performance
Build Timeline	Visual bar charts of target/task durations with click-to-analyze in Copilot
Optimize Build	Pick optimizations, Copilot applies changes, verify with A/B comparison
CI/CD Integration	Download binlogs from Azure DevOps Pipelines and GitHub Actions — filter by branch or PR
Problems Panel	Build diagnostics as native VS Code errors/warnings with per-project CodeLens
Search	Search across all build events — targets, tasks, messages, properties

Configuration

Setting	Default	Description
binlogAnalyzer.mcpServerPath	""	Custom path to the MCP server executable
binlogAnalyzer.mcpServerArgs	"--binlog ${binlog}"	Argument template for the MCP server. ${binlog} is replaced with each binlog path
binlogAnalyzer.autoLoad	true	Auto-load binlog diagnostics on activation
binlogAnalyzer.diagnosticsSeverityFilter	"Warning"	Min severity for Problems panel
binlogAnalyzer.inlineDecorations	true	Show build errors as inline decorations in source files
binlogAnalyzer.chat.includeAllTools	false	Expose all available tools (file editing, terminal, other MCPs) to the @binlog chat participant
binlogAnalyzer.chat.additionalToolPatterns	[]	Additional tool name patterns to include alongside binlog tools (e.g. ["copilot_codebase", "terminal"])

Troubleshooting: MCP Server Installation

The extension auto-installs BinlogInsights.Mcp via dotnet tool install -g. In corporate environments with restricted NuGet feeds, this may fail. Here are the workarounds:

1. Install with explicit NuGet source

dotnet tool install -g BinlogInsights.Mcp --add-source https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json

2. Manual download fallback

If all dotnet tool install attempts fail (e.g., nuget.org is blocked):

1. Download the .nupkg directly from nuget.org
2. Install from the local file:

# Download (replace {version} with latest, e.g. 0.2.0)
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://www.nuget.org/api/v2/package/BinlogInsights.Mcp/{version}" -OutFile "BinlogInsights.Mcp.nupkg"

# Install from local file
dotnet tool install -g BinlogInsights.Mcp --add-source .

3. Diagnose NuGet issues

dotnet nuget list source

Common problems:

• nuget.org not listed or disabled — the tool is published on nuget.org
• Authenticated feed requires credentials — may block fallthrough to nuget.org
• Package source mapping excludes nuget.org for this package

4. Verify installation

dotnet tool list -g | Select-String BinlogInsights
binlog-insights-mcp --help

For the full troubleshooting guide, see BinlogInsights repo setup instructions.

Related Projects

• MSBuild Structured Log Viewer — WPF viewer with secrets redaction
• BinlogInsights — CLI + MCP server for binlog analysis
• MSBuild Binary Log docs

License

MIT