CodeWhale VSCode

VSCode extension for CodeWhale — an open-source AI coding agent powered by DeepSeek V4 with a 1M-token context window. Chat with the agent, approve or deny tool calls, view diffs, and manage conversations — all inside VSCode.

Features

Chat Interface — Send prompts and watch the agent's streaming response in real time
Approval System — Three modes: Plan (read-only), Agent (approve each action), YOLO (auto-approve)
Diff Preview — View file changes side-by-side in VSCode's built-in diff editor
Thread Management — Create, rename, search, and delete conversations
Context Usage Ring — Visual token usage indicator with one-click compaction
Provider Settings — Configure API key, base URL, and model provider from the UI
Markdown Rendering — Full syntax support including tables, code blocks, and Mermaid diagrams
Auto-Reconnect — Gracefully recovers from unexpected server exits
Binary Auto-Download — Fetches the codewhale-tui binary from GitHub Releases on first launch

Quick Start

Install the extension from the VS Code Marketplace or GitHub Releases
Click the CodeWhale icon in the editor toolbar or run Ctrl+Shift+L
The binary downloads automatically on first launch
Configure your provider in the ⚙ settings panel
Start a new conversation and begin coding

Configuration

Setting	Description	Default
`codewhale.binaryVersion`	Pinned version of codewhale-tui to download	`v0.8.44`
`codewhale.binaryPath`	Custom path to local binary (skips download)	`""`
`codewhale.defaultMode`	Default approval mode: `plan`, `agent`, `yolo`	`agent`

Provider settings (API key, base URL, provider name) are configured through the ⚙ panel in the chat UI.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl+Shift+L`	Open CodeWhale panel
`Ctrl+Shift+N`	New conversation
`Ctrl+Enter`	Send message (in chat input)
`Enter`	Send message
`Shift+Enter`	Newline in message

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build webview (React → out/webview.js)
npm run build:webview

# Compile TypeScript (src → out/)
npm run compile

# Watch mode
npm run watch

# Lint
npm run lint

Project Structure

├── assets/             # Extension icon
├── src/
│   ├── extension.ts    # Extension entry point
│   ├── commands/       # Registered VSCode commands
│   ├── harness/        # codewhale-tui process manager, HTTP/SSE client
│   └── webview/
│       ├── provider.ts # Webview ↔ extension message bridge
│       └── panel/
│           └── App.tsx # React chat UI
├── esbuild.config.mjs  # Webview bundler config
├── tsconfig.json       # TypeScript config
└── package.json        # Extension manifest

Requirements

VS Code >= 1.90.0
codewhale-tui binary (auto-downloaded or provided via codewhale.binaryPath)

License

MIT

CodeWhale AI

HaiTao Jiang