What is archlens?

ArchLens is an extension for VS Code, the popular code editor, that reads through a software project and turns what it finds into visual maps and diagrams. It works entirely on your computer without sending your source code to any outside service. The goal is to give developers, and anyone else trying to understand a codebase, a clear picture of how the pieces fit together. When you run an analysis, ArchLens scans your files and produces several outputs. It draws an interactive dependency graph, which is a map showing how different parts of the code connect and rely on each other. It also detects which architectural pattern the project follows, such as whether it uses a layered structure or a microservices approach, and generates diagrams for those patterns. If the project includes a database, the extension can read the database model definitions and produce an entity-relationship diagram showing tables and how they relate. One of the more distinctive features is an AI chat mode. Once the analysis is done, you can ask plain-language questions about the codebase and the extension retrieves relevant code from its internal knowledge graph to ground the answer. It shows which files were referenced and gives a confidence score for each response. This chat can be powered by OpenAI, Claude, or Gemini, whichever you configure with an API key. ArchLens also surfaces technical debt, which refers to structural problems that slow down future development. It flags oversized files, circular dependencies where two parts of the code each depend on the other, and hotspot files that change frequently and may be fragile. A built-in review feature can produce a structured summary of strengths and weaknesses for the overall architecture. The extension currently supports TypeScript, JavaScript, and Go projects, and recognizes common frameworks like NestJS, Express, and Next.js, as well as database tools like Prisma and TypeORM.