Attentive for VS Code

Attentive connects notifications sent by the attentive CLI to the VS Code window where the CLI was started. When a notification is clicked, Attentive can bring that source window back into focus. Notifications from a focused window can be suppressed by the CLI.

Requirements

• VS Code 1.100.0 or newer
• The attentive CLI installed and available in the integrated terminal's PATH
• A supported Node.js runtime for the CLI (Node.js 18.18 or newer for the current Attentive workspace)

The extension itself does not display notifications and does not replace the Attentive notifier. The CLI and notifier are separate components.

Installation

Install Attentive from the VS Code Extensions view or from the Visual Studio Marketplace. After installation, create a new integrated terminal or restart the existing one before running attentive.

The endpoint contribution is cached by VS Code. In a normal single-window reload, the reactivated extension listens on the same endpoint so restored shells continue working without a restart.

Usage

Run the CLI from an Attentive-enabled integrated terminal, for example:

attentive notify --title "Build complete" --body "The build finished"

Use the Command Palette and run Attentive: Show VS Code Integration Status to check whether the per-window IPC server is listening, whether the window is focused, and whether a callback URI is available.

The status command deliberately does not reveal the IPC endpoint or callback URI.

How it works

When the extension host starts, the extension creates one local IPC endpoint for the VS Code window and contributes its opaque value to newly created integrated terminals. Unix-like systems use a Unix socket; Windows uses a randomized named pipe. The CLI reads the endpoint and asks the extension for the current focus state and callback URI.

The Unix socket is created in a user-owned directory with restrictive permissions and is removed when the extension is disposed. The endpoint is local to the machine and is not sent to Attentive's servers.

If the IPC integration is unavailable, the CLI fails open and sends a normal notification instead of suppressing it.

Limitations and troubleshooting

• Restart the integrated terminal after installing the extension.
• If the status command reports that IPC is not listening, reload the VS Code window and restart the terminal.
• If a persisted endpoint cannot be validated or rebound, the extension falls back to a new endpoint and restored terminals must be restarted.
• Same-workspace multi-window use is unverified. Because VS Code caches the endpoint by workspace, restored terminals may disconnect or route to the wrong window; restart affected terminals if needed.
• Explicit notification URLs continue to take precedence over the callback supplied by the extension.
• The extension depends on the capabilities of the VS Code extension host and the terminal environment where the CLI runs. Test Remote SSH, WSL, containers, and other remote environments separately before relying on them.

For more implementation details, see the window context IPC specification and the Attentive repository.

Privacy

Attentive does not include telemetry. This extension only exposes a local window-context endpoint to the Attentive CLI through the integrated terminal environment. It does not inspect workspace source files or send window context to a remote service.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.