Abacus AI

A free, local-first AI coding agent for VS Code. Chat, edit files, run terminal commands, and get real work done, autonomously. Works entirely offline with a local Ollama model, or with any OpenAI-compatible cloud API you already have a key for (OpenAI, Groq, OpenRouter, DeepSeek, Together, or a self-hosted server). No subscription, no vendor lock-in, no account required.

Why Abacus AI

• Actually free. No subscription, no usage caps imposed by this extension, no account to create. Use Ollama for zero cost, or bring your own cloud API key and pay only that provider directly.
• Local-first by design. Runs fully offline with Ollama. Optional telemetry is off by default and, even when on, only ever sends anonymous usage counts, never your code, chat content, or API keys.
• A real coding agent, not just a chatbot. Reads and writes files, runs terminal commands (in a visible integrated terminal, so interactive prompts work), searches your codebase, fetches URLs, and reads PDFs/spreadsheets, chained across multiple steps in one turn.
• See exactly what it changes. Every file edit shows a real diff before you approve it, and once applied, the change is highlighted directly in your editor with a one-click Undo, not just in the chat panel.

Features

• Chat with streaming responses, markdown rendering, and syntax-highlighted code blocks
• Attach files — an Attach button under the message box takes images, PDF, Excel, CSV and video. Images go to the model as pictures, documents as extracted text, and a video as sampled still frames (frames only, no audio — it tells you so rather than pretending otherwise)
• Tools: read/write/edit files, apply multi-file diffs in one reviewable step, run terminal commands, search the codebase by text or by meaning (semantic search), run git, read live compiler errors, fetch a URL, drive a real browser, read PDF/Excel/CSV, and a live step-by-step plan for multi-part tasks
• Finishes long jobs on its own instead of stopping every few steps to ask you to type "continue", with a token budget so a big job can't quietly run away
• Readable chat — a turn that touched a dozen files collapses to one "Worked for 12.4s · 7 steps" line you can expand, not a wall of boxes
• Clear approval prompts — "Run a terminal command" with the actual command, not a tool name and a block of JSON. Enter approves, Esc denies
• Ready-made provider list — 48 endpoints grouped into model providers (OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, xAI, DeepSeek, Mistral, Kimi, GLM, Qwen and more), routers and hosted inference (OpenRouter, Together, Fireworks, Groq, DeepInfra, Novita, NVIDIA NIM, SiliconFlow and more) and local servers (Ollama, LM Studio, llama.cpp, vLLM, Jan, LiteLLM). Pick one and the URL fills itself in; Custom is always there for anything else
• Inline autocomplete: gray ghost-text suggestions as you type, Tab to accept (off by default; enable abacusAI.autocomplete.enabled)
• Inline help/edit right in the editor: select code and press Ctrl+Shift+I
• MCP support: connect any Model Context Protocol server and its tools join the agent (see below)
• Background tasks: run an agent task detached while you keep coding; results land in chat history
• Slash commands (/review, /explain, /tests, /fix, /refactor, /commit, plus your own)
• Project rules file (AGENTS.md / .cursorrules / CLAUDE.md) auto-loaded every turn
• Command approval rules: allowlist safe commands, always-ask for destructive ones
• Real-time in-editor diff highlighting + Undo for every AI-made edit
• Local Ollama (auto-detected) or any OpenAI-compatible cloud endpoint, with saved provider profiles for quick switching
• API keys remembered per provider, so switching back and forth never loses one — and an optional (off by default) setting to sync them across your computers
• Guided setup wizard with live model lists and tool-calling capability detection
• Multiple persistent chat sessions with history
• Usage analytics with per-model token costs, including the discounted rate for cached tokens
• Opt-in, anonymous-only telemetry (off by default)

Connect MCP servers

MCP (Model Context Protocol) lets you plug external tools into the agent: GitHub, databases, filesystems, anything with an MCP server. Three ways to connect one:

1. Guided: Command Palette → Abacus AI: MCP Servers → Create workspace .abacus/mcp.json. A template opens with a working example; edit it and send any chat message. Servers start on the next turn. The same command shows each server's status and restarts them.
2. Personal (all projects): add servers to the abacusAI.mcp.servers setting:

   "abacusAI.mcp.servers": {
     "github": {
       "command": "npx",
       "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"],
       "env": { "GITHUB_TOKEN": "..." }
     }
   }
   

3. Team-shared: commit .abacus/mcp.json to your repo (the same mcpServers format Claude Desktop uses, so you can paste a server's README config nearly as-is).

Connected tools appear to the agent as mcp_<server>_<tool> and always ask your approval before running. You can also just ask Abacus AI in the chat: "how do I connect an MCP server?"

Install

1. Open the Extensions view in VS Code (Ctrl+Shift+X).
2. Search for Abacus AI and click Install.
3. Click the Abacus AI icon in the activity bar to open the chat.

Set up a model

• Local (free, private): install Ollama, pull a model (e.g. ollama pull llama3.2), then run Abacus AI: Provider & Model from the Command Palette. Abacus AI auto-detects whether Ollama is running and shows it in the chat header.
• Cloud (your own API key): run Abacus AI: Provider & Model, choose Cloud, and paste in a base URL + API key. Works with OpenAI, Groq, OpenRouter, DeepSeek, Together, or any self-hosted OpenAI-compatible server. Your key is stored in VS Code's encrypted SecretStorage, never in plain settings.

Privacy

Abacus AI is local-first: it never sends your chat content, file contents, or API keys anywhere. Optional telemetry (off by default, toggle in Settings) sends only the extension version, which provider/model you use, and anonymous per-tool usage counts, enough to guide development, nothing that identifies you or your code.

Feedback & bugs

Found a bug or have a feature request? Open ai.abacusitbd.com and use the feedback form.

License & author

Abacus AI is free to use but not open source. See the LICENSE file (included with this extension) for the full terms, and NOTICE for third-party attributions.

Developed by Abacus IT BD, founded by Riad Ahmed.

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/abacus-it-bd
• Web: abacusitbd.com

Also reachable from inside VS Code via the Abacus AI: About command.