“What do you think?” is probably the worst question to ask for feedback

Dinesh Bista — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 02:50:13 +0000

I’ve noticed something while building my own projects.

Whenever I showed someone something I built and asked:

“What do you think?”

I usually got:

“Looks good.”
“Nice project.”
“I like it.”

Nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't really tell me what to improve.

So I started asking a different kind of question.

Instead of:

“What do you think of my app?”

Try:

“Is it immediately clear what this app does?”

That gives someone something specific to look at — and gives you an answer you can actually do something with.

That’s the idea behind Critique, a platform I’m building for developers.

You share something you built, ask one question you genuinely want answered, and get feedback focused on that question.

I'm still building and testing it, so I'd really like some honest feedback from other developers.

What’s the best piece of feedback you’ve ever received on one of your projects?

If you want to try Critique with your own project:

https://critique-qqz9.onrender.com

I Built a Local-First Coding Activity Tracker for VS Code

Dinesh Bista — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 09:01:56 +0000

How much time do you actually spend coding each day?

I wanted an easy way to answer that without sending my coding activity to another service, so I built DevPulse, a local-first coding activity tracker for VS Code.

It tracks coding time, projects, programming languages, Git activity, streaks, and more while keeping the data on your machine.

DevPulse currently has 21 users, and I'm now looking for developers who use VS Code to try it and tell me what I should improve.

What is DevPulse?

DevPulse is a coding activity tracker built directly for VS Code.

The idea is simple: while you code, DevPulse records your local activity and turns it into useful information about your coding habits and progress.

You can see:

Coding time
Coding streaks
Daily, weekly, and monthly goals
Project activity
Programming language statistics
Git activity
Weekly analytics
Coding activity over time
Monthly and yearly summaries
Shareable progress cards

If you want to try it, you can install DevPulse from the VS Code Marketplace.

See where your coding time goes

One of the main things I wanted to understand was where my coding time actually goes.

DevPulse breaks activity down by project, workspace, files, hours, and programming languages.

Instead of only seeing a total number of hours, you can look back and see which projects you actually spent that time working on.

Git activity and weekly analytics

Coding time is only part of the picture.

DevPulse also brings Git activity and weekly coding statistics together so you can see how your week went.

You can view commits, coding time, daily averages, best days, sessions, and other weekly statistics.

The goal isn't to turn coding into a competition or tell you that you need to code more.

It's simply a way to look back and understand your own work.

Understand your programming languages

If you work on different projects, you probably switch between languages more often than you realize.

DevPulse gives you an overview of the programming languages you use and how your coding activity changes over time.

This can be useful when you're learning a new technology, working across multiple projects, or simply curious about what you actually spend your time writing.

Why I built it

I wanted a coding tracker that worked directly inside VS Code and stayed out of the way.

I also wanted to keep my coding data private.

DevPulse does not require an account, does not use telemetry, and does not send your coding activity to a server. Your data is stored locally on your machine, and you can export it whenever you want.

The idea is simple:

Open VS Code, write code, and understand your progress.

A local-first alternative to cloud-based coding trackers

There are already several useful coding activity and developer productivity tools, including WakaTime.

I'm not trying to claim that DevPulse is better for everyone.

Instead, I'm exploring a different approach: a local-first coding tracker for VS Code where your activity stays on your own machine.

If privacy and local data are important to you, that's the main reason you might prefer DevPulse.

Share your coding progress

I also wanted DevPulse to make it easy to share progress without sharing your complete coding history.

You can create shareable summaries using different layouts and copy them for use elsewhere.

It's a small feature, but it makes it easier to share milestones, weekly progress, or coding statistics with other developers.

What I'm trying to learn

DevPulse is still evolving, and this is the part where I need feedback from other developers.

I'm currently trying to grow from 21 users to my first 100, but the number itself isn't the most important part.

I want to find out whether DevPulse is actually useful.

If you try it, I'd especially like to know:

What did you find most useful?
What felt confusing or unnecessary?
What feature would you want next?
Would you keep using it?

You don't need to write a detailed review. Even a short comment about something you liked, disliked, or found confusing can help.

Try DevPulse

If you use VS Code, I'd love for you to give DevPulse a try.

Install DevPulse from the VS Code Marketplace

DevPulse is open source, so you can also inspect the project, report issues, or suggest improvements on GitHub:

View DevPulse on GitHub

About the project

I'm a student developer in Japan, and DevPulse is one of the open-source projects I'm building while learning and working on problems I find interesting.

I decided to share it here because I want feedback from developers who actually use VS Code.

If you try DevPulse, tell me what you think.

What would you change?

What would make you keep using it?

Your feedback will help shape the next version.

DEV Community: Dinesh Bista

“What do you think?” is probably the worst question to ask for feedback

[Boost]

I Built a Local-First Coding Activity Tracker for VS Code

I Built a Local-First Coding Activity Tracker for VS Code

What is DevPulse?

See where your coding time goes

Git activity and weekly analytics

Understand your programming languages

Why I built it

A local-first alternative to cloud-based coding trackers

Share your coding progress

What I'm trying to learn

Try DevPulse

About the project