Provenance

Provenance is a VS Code extension created at Berkeley that keeps a record of how you complete a course assignment. While you work in an assignment folder, it logs your editing activity for that assignment only and stores that log on your own computer. Nothing is transmitted; it is up to you to submit the record it creates.

Recording your work with Provenance

Install it, open the assignment folder in VS Code, and work normally. Setup instructions appear in Lab 0.

Description

• Provenance records how your code was created inside the assignment folder. It does not record your browser, your other projects, or anything outside the assignment folder.
• It doesn’t evaluate or judge your code. There’s no “is this AI-written?” detector in it.
• Once you submit your log, a member of the course staff may read it if there is some indication that you did not write your solutions yourself.
• Copying and pasting your own code is normal and is not a concern.
• If you did complete the assignment yourself, this record serves as evidence that you did.

Answers to common questions:

• Can I copy and paste my own code? Yes.
• Does Provenance affect my grade? No. It doesn’t produce a score.
• Can I be automatically flagged or reported? No. The course staff reviews cases individually for potential misconduct.
• Does it monitor my browser or my other projects? No. Only the assignment folder.
• Does it send anything while I’m working? No. It makes no network requests.
• Can I read my own log? Yes. It’s plain text in the .provenance/ folder.
• Which editor should I use? VS Code.
• What if I forgot to record part of an assignment? You can either submit your assignment anyway, in which case you may be contacted by the course staff, or download it again and redo it with a Provenance recording.

Here’s the full Provenance FAQ.