Developer Builds Open-Source VS Code Extension to Cut AI Code Review Cognitive Load

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A developer has released Glow Comments (v0.2.3), an open-source extension for VS Code, Cursor, and Windsurf, designed to help engineers audit AI-generated code more efficiently. The tool addresses what the author calls the 'Cognitive Verification Tax' — the heightened mental effort required to review unfamiliar code produced by large language models. Unlike traditional editors that render all code with uniform styling, Glow Comments visually dims safe boilerplate to low opacity while highlighting diagnostics, linter warnings, and risk-tagged comments at full brightness. A keyboard shortcut activates an 'Audit Lens' mode that narrows a developer's focus to potentially dangerous lines, such as silent error handlers, hardcoded mocks, or missing authentication checks. The project stems from the author's research into how AI-assisted coding tools shift — rather than eliminate — the bottleneck in software development productivity.

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