OmniMem, IDE RAM monitor :)

OmniMem is a RAM monitor extension created for Visual Studio Code and its forks. For about a decade, it utilized a Visual Studio Code extension that showed directly in the status bar how much memory the IDE was consuming compared to the total installed memory on the user's machine. This simple yet practical feature allowed users to quickly see if their development environment was using more resources than usual without having to open the system monitor, search for processes, or leave the editor.

The extension worked seamlessly for years, but issues arose when OmniMem's user began using other editors.

OmniMem was created to cater to these users. It is an open-source extension that displays the IDE's memory consumption in real time directly in the status bar. Its primary goal is to function not just in Visual Studio Code but also in various IDEs and forks built around its ecosystem. Currently, OmniMem is compatible with Visual Studio Code Cursor, Windsurf, Antigravity IDE, Devin Desktop, Trae VSCodium, and other VS Code-based forks and Electron-based editors.

The extension is available on Visual Studio Marketplace and Open VSX, allowing installation from different editors and marketplaces.

OmniMem displays the IDE's memory consumption directly in the status bar. For example, it shows "2.8GB / 16.0GB," where the first value represents the memory used by IDE-related processes, and the second shows the total installed memory on the system. The information updates periodically and can be displayed using different formats, such as memory used and total, only memory used, percentage of memory, or a compact format.

The update interval is also configurable, enabling users to keep track of IDE consumption without interrupting their workflow or opening external tools.

One of OmniMem's main objectives is to avoid compatibility dependence on a closed list of executable names. Instead of assuming that the main process is always named "Code," the extension uses runtime information to identify the editor installation and related processes. This approach allows the same extension to work with different products without maintaining a specific implementation for each one.

On macOS, for instance, OmniMem can identify the .app package to which the process belongs, such as /Applications/Antigravity IDE.app, /Applications/Windsurf.app, or /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app. Using this information, OmniMem can locate the main processes, renderers, GPU processes, Extension Host, and other associated processes.

Another useful feature OmniMem offers is the detection of duplicated extensions. Over time, the extensions directory can accumulate multiple versions of the same package, such as publisher.extension-1.0.0, publisher.extension-1.1.0, and publisher.extension-2.0.0. Typically, users only need the most recent active version, but older versions may remain stored on disk.

OmniMem can analyze the extensions directory, group them by identifier, and notify users when it finds multiple versions of the same package. However, OmniMem does not automatically remove files; it simply provides this information for users to review and decide what to do. The extension is designed to be lightweight, private, and dependency-free at runtime, without external services, telemetry, or automatic file modifications. It is open-source under the MIT license.