codev.telemetry setting description reads as informational, not as a control

[amrmelsayed]

What

The codev.telemetry setting in packages/vscode/package.json#contributes.configuration.properties is declared but has zero code consumers — no path in packages/** reads codev.telemetry for any purpose. Verified by grep on 2026-05-26: telemetry / TelemetryReporter / sendTelemetryEvent / appInsights etc. across all packages — the setting key has no reader.

The current declaration:

"codev.telemetry": {
  "type": "boolean",
  "default": false,
  "description": "No telemetry collected"
}

surfaces in VS Code's Settings UI as a toggle that does literally nothing. The description ("No telemetry collected") reads as informational rather than as a control description, compounding the confusion.

Decision (2026-05-26): remove the setting entirely

Three options were considered:

• A. Reword the description (keep schema slot for forward-compat)
• B. Remove the entry entirely
• C. Reword AND add a code consumer

Decision: Option B (remove). Reasoning:

• The setting genuinely does nothing today — keeping it surfaces a toggle in users' Settings UI that creates confusion exactly as flagged in this issue
• Codev does not collect external telemetry (no third-party tracker, no phone-home). The local analytics surface in packages/codev/src/agent-farm/servers/analytics.ts is computed local-only from the user's own status.yaml files and served to the user's own dashboard — it's not telemetry in the surveillance sense and isn't gated by this setting
• Forward-compat is cheap to reintroduce later if/when actual telemetry is on the table. Removing now is honest about the current state and removes a user-visible footgun
• Adding a code consumer (Option C) would conflate the local-analytics endpoint with "telemetry," which is a misframing

Implementation

Single change: remove the entire codev.telemetry entry from packages/vscode/package.json#contributes.configuration.properties.

 "contributes": {
   "configuration": {
     "properties": {
-      "codev.telemetry": {
-        "type": "boolean",
-        "default": false,
-        "description": "No telemetry collected"
-      },
       "codev.someOtherSetting": { ... }
     }
   }
 }

Verify no other file references the setting key by searching the whole package for codev.telemetry — should return zero hits after removal.

File to change

• packages/vscode/package.json — delete the codev.telemetry entry from contributes.configuration.properties

Acceptance

• codev.telemetry entry removed from packages/vscode/package.json
• No remaining reference to codev.telemetry anywhere in packages/vscode/
• After install, the setting no longer appears in VS Code's Settings UI under Codev
• Feature Contributions tab no longer lists the setting

Out of scope

• Reword approach (Option A) — explicitly rejected in favor of removal
• Wiring a code consumer (Option C) — local analytics is not telemetry; conflating them is the wrong framing
• Any change to packages/codev/src/agent-farm/servers/analytics.ts or the dashboard's AnalyticsView — those are local computations, not telemetry, and stay as-is

Discovered while

Auditing the VS Code extension's auto-generated Feature Contributions tab during the README revision pass (see docs/vscode-readme-revision branch).

[amrmelsayed]

On it! Working on a fix now.