Assessme FLOW

What FLOW is

AssessME FLOW is a VS Code extension that runs silently in the background while you code. It records a timestamped log of your development process: how your code evolved, when you ran and tested it, and when you used the AI Assistant.

Think of it as a flight recorder for your coding session. It does not watch you — it records the technical events that prove your work is genuinely yours.

Why FLOW exists

Submitted code tells an instructor what you produced. It says nothing about whether you understood it.

FLOW captures the process: the incremental edits, the failed test runs, the moments when you were stuck and how you got unstuck. This is the evidence that distinguishes a student who spent three days working through a problem from one who generated an answer in thirty seconds.

FLOW protects you as much as it protects your instructor. When your work is genuine, the log is your strongest defence. When it is not, the log shows that too — which is why bypassing FLOW is always visible and never worth attempting.

What FLOW records

File changes

Every meaningful edit to your source files is captured as an incremental diff — not a full copy of the file each time, just what changed and when. FLOW does not record individual keystrokes, only the changes between snapshots.

Run and debug events

When you execute your program, run tests, or start a debug session, FLOW records the event, its duration, and the exit code. Repeatedly running code and seeing it fail, then modifying and trying again, is the natural pattern of real learning. FLOW captures exactly this.

AI Assistant activity

When you use the AI Assistant, FLOW records the event timestamp, the AI level active at the time, and the model used. It also records what your code looked like before and after the conversation. This lets your instructor see not just that you asked the AI something, but whether what you did after the conversation reflected genuine engagement.

Milestones

Milestones are markers you place deliberately — a note saying "I finished the sorting function" or "I figured out why the loop was off by one." These are yours to place whenever something clicks.

What FLOW does not record

  • Individual keystrokes

  • Files outside your project workspace

  • Passwords, environment variables, or secrets

  • Anything on your system unrelated to the assignment

Getting started

Install the extension

Open the Extensions panel in VS Code (Ctrl+Shift+X or Cmd+Shift+X), search for AssessME FLOW, and install it. Restart VS Code if prompted.

Configure your settings

Open Settings (Ctrl+, or Cmd+,) and search for assessme flow. Fill in:

Setting

Example

Required

Assignment ID

hw03-sorting

Yes

Your instructor will tell you the exact value to use for each assignment.

Activate FLOW before you start coding

Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P or Cmd+Shift+P) and run:

AssessME FLOW: Activate in Current Folder

You will see a green status indicator in the VS Code status bar confirming that FLOW is recording.

Activate FLOW before you write your first line. The log starts from the moment you activate — work done before activation is not recorded and cannot be recovered retroactively.

Work normally

Once FLOW is running, just code. You do not need to interact with the extension. It handles everything automatically.

Marking milestones

A milestone is a deliberate note in your log. Use it to mark moments that matter: completing a function, understanding a concept, solving a problem that had you stuck.

Via the Command Palette:

  1. Press Ctrl+Shift+P (or Cmd+Shift+P)

  2. Type AssessME: Mark Milestone

  3. Enter a short note, for example: Completed binary search — understood why mid needs to be floor division

Via the AI Assistant chat:

@MILESTONE Figured out the off-by-one error in the loop boundary

Milestones appear in your encrypted log and help your instructor understand your learning journey. They also help you — looking back at a semester of milestones shows you how far you came.

Where your logs are stored

FLOW writes encrypted log files to:

<your-workspace>/.assessme/

The files have a .v2.assessme extension. They are encrypted with AES-256-GCM before being written — you cannot read them directly, and neither can anyone other than your instructor, who holds the decryption key.

Do not delete the .assessme/ folder. Your instructor needs it to verify your work. If you delete it, your activity record is gone permanently and cannot be reconstructed.

Encryption and privacy

All data FLOW records is encrypted before it touches your disk. The encryption uses AES-256-GCM, the same standard used for banking and government communications.

Your data is:

  • Stored locally on your machine in encrypted form

  • Accessible only to your instructor (who holds the decryption key)

  • Never shared with any third party

  • Never sent to any server without your instructor's explicit backend configuration

Your activity logs belong to your course. They are not used for any purpose other than verifying the integrity and process of your assignment work.

Using Git alongside FLOW

FLOW works independently of Git, but using both together gives the strongest evidence of your development process.

To initialise a Git repository in your project:

cd your-project-folder
git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"

To connect it to GitHub:

git remote add origin https://github.com/your-username/your-repo.git
git branch -M main
git push -u origin main

Commit regularly — ideally every time you complete a meaningful piece of work. Commit messages like "Add bubble sort with swap counter" tell a clear story of progress. Together with FLOW's fine-grained change log, they create an evidence trail that is very difficult to fabricate and very easy to verify.

Stopping FLOW

When you are done for the session:

Command Palette → AssessME FLOW: Stop FLOW

FLOW will automatically resume when you reopen VS Code in the same workspace.

Troubleshooting

FLOW will not start

  • Check that Student ID, Course ID, and Assignment ID are all filled in settings

  • Make sure you have a workspace folder open (not just a single file)

  • Try reloading VS Code (Ctrl+Shift+P → Reload Window)

The status indicator does not show green

  • Confirm you ran AssessME FLOW: Activate in Current Folder, not just opened VS Code

  • Check the Output panel (View → Output → AssessME FLOW) for error messages

Nothing is being recorded

  • Verify the status indicator is green (active, not just installed)

  • Make sure you are editing files with supported extensions (.py, .java, .js, .ts, etc.)

I accidentally deleted my logs

  • FLOW logs cannot be recovered after deletion

  • Going forward: keep the .assessme/ folder until your instructor confirms your assignment is graded

Tips

  • Activate FLOW first, code second. Every session, every time.

  • Mark milestones when things click. Not just when you finish — when you understand.

  • Commit to Git at natural stopping points. Not just at the end.

  • Keep your sessions genuine. The log shows when the work happened. Three days of steady progress looks completely different from one night of AI-assisted generation. Your instructor will notice.