Cognitive Atoms for VS Code

Capture the decisions and reasoning behind your code while they are still fresh. Select text or write a note, choose a capture type, and save it to your account — or to a Cognitive Atoms runtime on this machine only when signed out.

This extension is a capture surface. It preserves the reasoning you choose to record so it can remain connected to your work over time.

Two stores, named honestly

Your account — run Cognitive Atoms: Sign in with your account email and password. Captures then go to your account, where they follow you across devices and AI surfaces. Your password goes only to the sign-in service; the extension mints its own per-editor key and keeps it in VS Code Secret Storage. Cognitive Atoms: Sign out revokes that key and its access server-side and forgets it here.
This machine only — signed out, captures go to a Cognitive Atoms runtime on your machine (default http://127.0.0.1:8765) and are not in your account. This is the default, and it is loopback-only, enforced before any request.

Cognitive Atoms: Connection status always tells you which store captures go to and whether it is reachable right now.

Requirements

VS Code 1.85 or later
A Cognitive Atoms account (beta invite), or a Cognitive Atoms runtime running on your machine (default: http://127.0.0.1:8765)

How it works

Select the text or code you want to preserve, or run a command and type a note.
Choose what it represents: a decision, open question, reasoning, risk, or task.
Cognitive Atoms previews the capture and saves it — naming the store it landed in: your account, or this machine only.

If the destination is unreachable, the extension tells you the capture was not saved. It never reports a failed capture as successful, and it never shows a "connected" state it did not just verify.

Capture commands

Use the Command Palette, or right-click a selection for the first two commands.

Command	Use it for
`Cognitive Atoms: Capture Decision`	A choice you made and why.
`Cognitive Atoms: Capture Open Question`	Something that still needs an answer.
`Cognitive Atoms: Capture Selection as Reasoning`	Context or rationale worth preserving.
`Cognitive Atoms: Capture Risk / Blocker`	A risk, dependency, or blocker.
`Cognitive Atoms: Capture Roadmap / Task`	A concrete task or next step.
`Cognitive Atoms: Check Runtime Connection`	Confirm that your local runtime is reachable.

Privacy and control

Capture happens only when you run a command. There is no background capture, capture-on-save, file scraping, telemetry, analytics, or account requirement.
The extension captures only text or code you explicitly select, or a note you explicitly type. It never reads or sends surrounding code.
File path and line range can be included as optional provenance. Turn off cognitiveAtoms.includeFileContext to omit them.
The extension communicates only with a loopback runtime on your machine. A non-local address is refused before a request is made; there is no cloud relay.
Captures are submitted with secret redaction enabled.

Settings

Setting	Default	Purpose
`cognitiveAtoms.backendUrl`	`http://127.0.0.1:8765`	Local Cognitive Atoms runtime address. Loopback only.
`cognitiveAtoms.projectId`	`Cognitive Atoms`	Project under which captures are stored.
`cognitiveAtoms.sourceType`	`VSCODE_BROWSER_EXTENSION`	Advanced provenance label. Leave unchanged unless troubleshooting.
`cognitiveAtoms.includeFileContext`	`true`	Include file path and line range as provenance.

The status bar shows the last known connection state. Click it to check again.

For contributors

cd apps/vscode_extension
npm install
npm run compile
npm test