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Label Alchemy

Quick Start

Convert your first Salesforce string to a Custom Label in under 5 minutes. No API key required for the default setup.

Step 1 — Install

Section titled “Step 1 — Install”

From the VS Code Extensions panel:

  1. Open VS Code
  2. Press Cmd+Shift+X (Mac) or Ctrl+Shift+X (Windows/Linux) to open Extensions
  3. Search “Label Alchemy”
  4. Click Install

Or from the command line:

Terminal window
code --install-extension ramprasad94.labelalchemy

See the full install guide for requirements and how to confirm activation.

Step 2 — Open a Salesforce project

Section titled “Step 2 — Open a Salesforce project”

Open a folder containing a Salesforce DX project (one that has a sfdx-project.json or force-app/ directory). Label Alchemy activates automatically when it detects Salesforce files.

Step 3 — Scan a file

Section titled “Step 3 — Scan a file”
  1. Open any .cls, LWC .js/.html, or Aura .cmp/.app/.js file
  2. Press Cmd+Shift+P (Mac) or Ctrl+Shift+P (Windows) to open the Command Palette
  3. Type “Label Alchemy: Scan Active File” and press Enter

Or: right-click the file in the Explorer and select “Label Alchemy: Scan Active File”.

Label Alchemy scans the file and opens the Proposed Changes panel listing every hard-coded string it found.

Step 4 — Review and approve

Section titled “Step 4 — Review and approve”

In the Proposed Changes panel:

  • Edit a label name — click any name to edit it. It’s validated live (40-char limit, valid characters, no duplicates). The Approve button stays disabled until all checked names are valid.
  • Uncheck a label — if a string isn’t user-facing copy, uncheck it. It stays in your code untouched.
  • View the diff — click View Diff next to any file to see the exact line changes in VS Code’s native diff editor.
  • Approve All or Approve Selected — when you’re happy, click to apply.

Step 5 — Done

Section titled “Step 5 — Done”

After approving:

  1. Your source file is updated — hard-coded strings replaced with the correct SF references (System.Label.X for Apex, {getter} for LWC HTML, etc.)
  2. CustomLabels.labels-meta.xml is updated with the new label entries (you can set a category on labels in the review panel before approving)
  3. For LWC HTML changes, the sibling .js is automatically updated with the import + getter
  4. A change record is written to labelalchemy-changes/ — a summary.md, summary.csv, and package.xml — and an Open summary notification appears

Deploy to your org when ready:

Terminal window
sf project deploy start --source-dir force-app/main/default/labels
sf project deploy start --source-dir force-app/main/default/classes

Or use Deploy to Org from the Command Palette (a Paid feature — requires a license).

Scan a whole project (Audit Report)

Section titled “Scan a whole project (Audit Report)”

To see every hard-coded string across your project:

  1. Right-click any folder in the Explorer → Label Alchemy: Scan Folder Or press Cmd+Shift+P → Label Alchemy: Scan Folder → pick a folder
  2. The Audit Report opens — total count, by component type, by file, with per-file drill-down, and an estimated manual-conversion time
  3. From the Audit Report, click Convert to Labels to apply bulk conversions [Paid]

The folder scan and Audit Report are free. Bulk convert requires a license.

Optional: Enable AI naming

Section titled “Optional: Enable AI naming”

If you want richer label names from an LLM:

  1. Open the Command Palette → Label Alchemy: Configure Settings
  2. Choose AI-assisted naming
  3. Pick a provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, DeepSeek, OpenRouter, Ollama, LM Studio, Custom)
  4. Pick a model, enter your API key (skipped for local providers)
  5. Label Alchemy runs a quick capability test — if it passes, you’re ready

Your API key is stored in VS Code’s encrypted secret storage. It’s never written to a settings file or logged.

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”