htaccess tester

Overview

Two editor extensions that test Apache rewrite rules in your code editor. Give it a URL and a set of rules and you get the rewritten output plus a per-rule trace showing exactly which conditions matched. Fully offline, no Apache instance required.

Challenge

Debugging .htaccess is one of the last corners of web development that still feels like guesswork. The normal loop is: edit rules, push to a staging box, refresh a URL, squint at logs, repeat. Online testers exist, but they cannot see your files and you have to trust someone else's server with your config.

Approach

We built a rewrite-engine evaluator that runs locally and handles the directives people actually ship (RewriteEngine, RewriteBase, RewriteCond, RewriteRule) along with the [L] [R] [NC] [QSA] flags that trip everyone up. The same evaluator core powers a VS Code extension in TypeScript and a JetBrains plugin in Kotlin. Test cases save per workspace, custom server variables are first-class, and safety limits stop runaway rewrite loops before they stop you.

Outcome

Shipped to the VS Code Marketplace and the JetBrains Marketplace. Works across VS Code 1.85+ and every JetBrains IDE from 2024.1 on: IntelliJ, PhpStorm, WebStorm. MIT-licensed, zero network calls, never touches your rules after install.

Stack

• TypeScript
• Kotlin
• VS Code Extension API
• JetBrains Platform SDK
• Vitest
• Gradle

Links

• VS Code repo↗
• JetBrains repo↗