Presence
See which file each teammate currently has open, peek at their uncommitted
changes, and comment on them live — right inside VS Code. Presence only: no code syncing, no edits to
your files, no cursor positions. Just shared awareness of who's where.
Install
- VS Code — install from the
Visual Studio Marketplace,
or search "Presence" in the Extensions view.
- Cursor, VSCodium, Gitpod, and other VS Code–compatible editors — install
from the Open VSX Registry,
or search "Presence" in the editor's Extensions view (these editors pull from
Open VSX).
- Manual — download the
.vsix from the
GitHub releases and run
Extensions: Install from VSIX… from the Command Palette.
Features
- Teammates view — every connected teammate shown with a colored initials
avatar and a presence dot (green active / amber idle), their current git
branch and file (
branch • filename · folder), and (you) on your own row.
- Read-only diff sharing — expand a teammate to see their uncommitted
changes (working tree + staged + untracked vs
HEAD). Click a file to open it
in VS Code's native read-only diff editor, with real file-type icons and
M/A/U/D status letters — just like your own Source Control view.
- Live comments on diffs — hover a line in a teammate's diff and click the
gutter + to start a thread. Replies appear instantly for everyone in the
room, you can edit or delete your own comments, and nothing is stored: threads
live only while the room does.
- Explorer badges — any file a teammate has open gets an initials badge and
a colored tint in the Explorer; hover to see who's there.
- Same-file collision — when a teammate is editing the exact file you have
open, their row turns red and you get a heads-up toast.
- Connection status in the status bar, and a one-click pause to stop
sharing your activity at any time.
Requirements
Presence needs a small relay server that connects teammates in the same
room. A room is derived automatically from your workspace's git remote (or
folder name), so teammates who open the same repo meet without any setup.
Point the extension at a relay via the Set Relay URL button in the
Teammates view title, or the presence.serverUrl setting. wss:// is supported
for TLS. The relay source lives in the
project repository.
Settings
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
presence.serverUrl |
ws://localhost:8080 |
WebSocket URL of the presence relay. |
presence.userName |
(empty) |
Display name shown to teammates; prompts on first run. |
Privacy
While active, Presence shares your current file, git branch, uncommitted
diff, and any comments you leave with everyone connected to the same relay and
repo. Comments are held in the relay's memory only and are discarded when the
room empties. Use the Pause
button (Teammates view title) whenever you don't want to share — it disconnects
you until you resume, and the choice persists across sessions.
Commands
- Presence: Pause Presence / Resume Presence
- Presence: Set Relay URL…
License
MIT
