Compose Buffer

A minimal VS Code extension that opens a native editor as a compose buffer for terminal-based coding agents.

Commands

• Compose Buffer: Open opens or reveals the buffer and captures the active terminal.
• Compose Buffer: Restore Last Prompt opens or reveals the buffer filled with the last committed or canceled prompt.
• Compose Buffer: Restore Last Prompt From Terminal sends Ctrl+C to the active terminal, then restores the last prompt.
• Compose Buffer: Commit copies the buffer to the clipboard and sends it to the captured terminal.
• Compose Buffer: Copy Only copies the buffer without sending it to a terminal.
• Compose Buffer: Cancel closes the buffer without copying.

While the compose buffer is active, Ctrl+Enter and Esc commit it. With terminal focus, Cmd+Shift+Enter restores the last prompt on macOS unless terminal text is selected.

Features

• @ file completions insert workspace-relative references using a session-local file index.
• Plain @ searches fuzzy matches across workspace-relative files and directories.
• @f: searches fuzzy matches on file names, and @d: searches fuzzy matches on directory names without matching across path separators.
• $ and / completions can suggest configured agent skills or commands.
• Pasted images are written to .images/ by default and inserted as @.images/<timestamp>.png.
• If shell integration exposes a workspace-local terminal cwd, pasted images are saved relative to that cwd.

File References

Compose Buffer indexes workspace files the first time @ completion is used. The index is kept in memory for the VS Code session. Run Compose Buffer: Rebuild File Index after large file moves, generated file changes, or branch switches.

Use the narrowest operator that matches what you know:

@sfa            fuzzy search workspace-relative paths, such as src/features/auth
@f:lct          fuzzy search file names, such as LoginControllerTest
@d:add-login    fuzzy search directory names

Directory completions insert a trailing slash so you can continue narrowing, for example @d:add-login can insert @openspec/changes/add-login/, then you can type plan to complete plan.md.

See Path Completion Ranking for the matching and ordering specification.

Manual path-completion fixtures live under test/assets/path-completions. Try @f:proposal to test repeated OpenSpec-style filenames, or @f:2026 to test timestamp-like image names.

Settings

"composeBuffer.agentCompletions": [
  "$Excel",
  "$PowerPoint",
  "$openai-docs",
  "$plugin-creator",
  "$skill-creator",
  "/review"
]

Typing $ or / opens the configured completions for that prefix. Typing more characters fuzzy-filters the list, so $ppt can match $PowerPoint and $pc can match $plugin-creator.

Custom aliases are also supported:

"composeBuffer.agentCompletions": {
  "slides": "$PowerPoint",
  "fix": [
    "$skill-creator",
    "$plugin-creator"
  ]
}

Development

npm install
npm run check

Install From GitHub Release

Download the .vsix file from the latest GitHub Release, then run:

code --install-extension compose-buffer-*.vsix

Publishing

Marketplace publishing is handled by the tag-based GitHub Actions release workflow. See Publishing for the setup, token locations, and release commands.