Smart Rename Preview

[sidkr222003]

VS Code's default rename applies changes immediately or shows a minimal preview. Developers often miss cross-file impacts, dynamic references, or naming collisions, leading to broken builds or subtle runtime bugs. A dedicated, risk-aware preview workflow would surface potential issues before commitment.

Objective

Build a rename interception & preview system that collects all proposed rename edits, visualizes them in a structured UI, highlights potential conflicts/risky patterns, and requires explicit user confirmation before applying.

📋 Scope & Implementation Details

1. Rename Interception & Collection

• Register custom command: safeRename.start (optionally override editor.action.rename)
• Fetch rename locations without applying:

  const edit = await vscode.commands.executeCommand<vscode.WorkspaceEdit>(
    'vscode.executeDocumentRenameProvider',
    document.uri,
    position,
    newName
  );

• Parse edit.entries() to build a preview model grouped by file

2. Preview UI

• Use vscode.window.createTreeView with a custom TreeDataProvider
• Tree structure:

  📁 src/auth/login.ts
    ├─ 🟢 L14: const userId = ...
    ├─ 🟡 L42: obj["userId"] (dynamic access)
    └─ 🔴 L89: function userId() (scope collision)
  

• On tree item click: open transient diff preview (vscode.commands.executeCommand('vscode.diff', ...))
• Support checkboxes for selective apply (Phase 2)

3. Risk & Conflict Detection

• Analyze each edit location and assign risk level:
  • $(green) Safe: Direct symbol reference, same scope, static access
  • $(yellow) Review: String literal match, comment match, template literal, dynamic key (obj["old"])
  • $(red) Conflict: Name already exists in target scope, cross-language boundary (e.g., TS → CSS class), framework-specific binding
• Use lightweight scope lookup + regex heuristics for initial pass

4. Confirm/Cancel Workflow

• Action bar in TreeView or QuickPick:
  • "Apply All" → vscode.workspace.applyEdit(collectedEdit)
  • "Review Selected" → open diff
  • "Cancel" → discard edit, restore cursor
• Apply atomically; VS Code handles undo stack automatically

Acceptance Criteria

• Intercepts rename and collects all proposed edits before applying
• Displays structured preview grouped by file with line/context snippets
• Highlights ≥3 risk types (collisions, dynamic refs, string/comment matches)
• Provides explicit Apply/Cancel actions
• Applies edits atomically with full undo support
• Generates preview in <100ms for ≤50 occurrences

Technical Notes

• Do not reimplement language server rename logic. Delegate to vscode.executeDocumentRenameProvider and enhance the output.
• Risk detection should be heuristic-based initially:
  • Scope collision: vscode.commands.executeCommand('vscode.executeDocumentSymbolProvider') + name overlap check
  • Dynamic/string matches: regex fallback on surrounding text
• Use vscode.WorkspaceEdit for atomic application; preserves undo/redo history
• Cache provider response during preview session to avoid redundant LS calls
• Gracefully fallback to default rename if provider returns null or times out
• use codicons