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I didn't notice this VS Code feature until it made me question how I code

I was working on a refactoring using VS Code the other day when I noticed something I hadn't seen before: a tiny bar chart quietly living in the status bar, tracking my AI vs. manual typing usage over the last 24 hours.

It's called AI Statistics, and it shipped in VS Code 1.103. To enable it, open settings and search for "AI stats" — flip the checkbox, and a small gauge appears in the bottom-right of your status bar. Hover over it and you get a breakdown: how much of your recent code came from AI completions versus your own keystrokes.


On the surface it sounds like a novelty. But I found myself actually pausing when I saw the numbers.

It reframed something I hadn't really thought about consciously: not whether AI coding tools are good or bad, but just how much I'm actually leaning on them day to day.

That visibility is weirdly valuable. It's the kind of data point that makes you more intentional — maybe you lean in harder on AI for boilerplate and pull back when you want to think through the design yourself. Either way, you're making a choice instead of just drifting.

It's a small feature, but it's one of those additions that changes how you relate to your own workflow. Worth enabling if you haven't yet.

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