VSX Pulse: tracking Open VSX download trends

#openvsx

VSX Pulse (https://vsx-pulse.org) is a small, unofficial web app for exploring public statistics from the Eclipse Open VSX registry.

It tracks extension metadata over time and shows download trends, ratings, version activity, and registry-level movement in one place.

Why build

I maintain an extension called TaskDev, published on Open VSX as tolbxela.taskdev.

After publishing it, I wanted a simple answer to a simple question: are people downloading it?

Open VSX exposes public metadata, including cumulative download counts. That is useful, but a cumulative number does not tell you what changed today, this week, or after the last release.

VSX Pulse exists to make that movement visible. It is not a replacement for Open VSX; it is a small companion dashboard for authors and users who want to understand how extensions move over time.

One signal I find especially useful is the relationship between new versions and new downloads. A release can create a small wave of renewed activity, and seeing that next to the download chart makes the effect easier to reason about.

What it does

VSX Pulse shows registry-wide activity and per-extension statistics.

Current functionality includes:

overview metrics for total extensions, active extensions, recent downloads, and average rating
download, new extension, and new version charts with hour, day, and month granularity
a searchable and sortable extension catalogue
per-extension detail pages with total downloads, 7-day gain, rating, latest version, metadata, categories, and release history
top movers over the last 7 days
public JSON endpoints for status, time series, leaderboards, search, and sparklines

For an extension author, the core flow is straightforward: search for an extension, open its detail page, and check total downloads, recent gain, version history, and the download chart.

How it works

The main data rule is simple: Open VSX gives cumulative download counts, so VSX Pulse stores regular snapshots and calculates the difference between snapshots.

That turns public, read-only registry metadata into trend data without needing any private analytics. The first snapshot gives the current state. Later snapshots make it possible to answer questions like: