Analyze MSBuild binary logs (.binlog) with GitHub Copilot Chat and MCP tools — right from VS Code.
Preview — This extension is under active development. Feedback welcome!
- Install this extension (requires VS Code 1.99+ with GitHub Copilot and .NET SDK)
- Open a
.binlog— via Binlog: Load File (Ctrl+Shift+P), Build & Collect Binlog, or from Structured Log Viewer → Open in VS Code - Use
@binlogin Copilot Chat:
@binlog why did the build fail?
@binlog what are the slowest targets?
@binlog /perf
The Microsoft.AITools.BinlogMcp server (28 analysis tools) is auto-installed on first use.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| @binlog Chat | Ask Copilot about errors, performance, targets, imports, NuGet issues — with slash commands like /errors, /perf, /timeline, /compare, /summary, /incremental, /buildcheck, /search, /targets, /properties, /items, /propertyhistory |
| Build & Collect | Build a project and capture a .binlog in one step |
| Binlog Explorer | Sidebar tree with project → target → task hierarchy, errors, warnings, performance |
| Build Timeline | Visual bar charts of target/task durations with click-to-analyze in Copilot |
| Fix All Issues | Copilot fixes all build errors/warnings, rebuilds, and loads before/after for comparison |
| Auto-fix Diagnostic | Right-click any error/warning in the tree → "Auto-fix with Copilot" to fix it directly |
| Optimize Build | Pick optimizations, Copilot applies changes, verify with A/B comparison |
| Build Analysis Mode | Chat mode pre-configured with Microsoft.AITools.BinlogMcp MCP tools — works with any agent |
| Language Model Tools | binlog_lm_overview, binlog_lm_errors, binlog_lm_search, binlog_lm_perf, binlog_lm_compare — available to @workspace, agent mode, and custom chat modes |
| CI/CD Integration | Download binlogs from Azure DevOps Pipelines and GitHub Actions — filter by branch or PR |
| Problems Panel | Build diagnostics as native VS Code errors/warnings with per-project CodeLens and "Ask @binlog" CodeActions |
| Search | Search across all build events — targets, tasks, messages, properties |
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
binlogAnalyzer.mcpServerPath |
"" |
Custom path to the MCP server executable |
binlogAnalyzer.mcpServerArgs |
"--binlog ${binlog}" |
Argument template for the MCP server. ${binlog} is replaced with each binlog path |
binlogAnalyzer.autoLoad |
true |
Auto-load binlog diagnostics on activation |
binlogAnalyzer.diagnosticsSeverityFilter |
"Warning" |
Min severity for Problems panel |
binlogAnalyzer.inlineDecorations |
true |
Show build errors as inline decorations in source files |
binlogAnalyzer.chat.includeAllTools |
false |
Expose all available tools (file editing, terminal, other MCPs) to the @binlog chat participant |
binlogAnalyzer.chat.additionalToolPatterns |
[] |
Additional tool name patterns to include alongside binlog tools (e.g. ["copilot_codebase", "terminal"]) |
The extension auto-installs Microsoft.AITools.BinlogMcp via dotnet tool install -g. In corporate environments with restricted NuGet feeds, this may fail. Here are the workarounds:
dotnet tool install -g Microsoft.AITools.BinlogMcp --prerelease --add-source https://pkgs.dev.azure.com/dnceng/public/_packaging/dotnet-tools/nuget/v3/index.jsondotnet nuget list sourceCommon problems:
- dotnet-tools feed not configured — the tool is published on the dotnet-tools Azure DevOps feed
- Authenticated feed requires credentials — may block access to the feed
- Package source mapping excludes the dotnet-tools feed for this package
dotnet tool list -g | Select-String Microsoft.AITools.BinlogMcp
binlog-mcp --help- MSBuild Structured Log Viewer — WPF viewer with secrets redaction
- Microsoft.AITools.BinlogMcp — MCP server for binlog analysis
- MSBuild Binary Log docs