Installation

HeapLens is a VS Code extension backed by a high-performance Rust analysis engine. This guide walks you through getting it running on your machine.

Prerequisites

Dependency	Version	Purpose
VS Code	1.74+	Extension host
Rust toolchain	stable	Building the analysis server
Node.js	18+	Building the TypeScript extension
npm	9+	Dependency management

Installing Rust

If you don't have Rust installed:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
source $HOME/.cargo/env
rustc --version   # verify

Build from Source

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/sachinkg12/HeapLens.git
cd HeapLens

2. Build the Rust analysis server

The analysis server is a standalone binary (hprof-server) that the extension communicates with over stdin/stdout.

cd hprof-analyzer
cargo build --release

The binary is produced at hprof-analyzer/target/release/hprof-server. The extension knows to look for it at this path during development.

3. Build the TypeScript extension

# From the project root
npm install
npm run compile

4. Verify the build

# Rust tests (use --release to avoid memory pressure on macOS)
cd hprof-analyzer && cargo test --release --lib

# TypeScript compilation check
npm run compile

# Lint
npm run lint

Running the Extension

1. Open the project in VS Code
2. Press F5 to launch the Extension Development Host
3. In the new window, open any .hprof file — HeapLens activates automatically

The extension registers as a custom editor for .hprof files. Opening one triggers the full analysis pipeline.

Platform Notes

Platform	Status	Notes
macOS (Apple Silicon)	Fully supported	Primary development platform
macOS (Intel)	Supported
Linux (x86_64)	Supported
Windows	Supported	Binary built as hprof-server.exe

The Rust server uses memory-mapped I/O (memmap2), which works natively across all platforms.