Rosetta Bridge
A real-time translation layer between your source code and its business value — right inside VS Code.
Rosetta Bridge reads the same code two ways and lets you choose the audience with a toggle:
- Plain (Vibe Coder) channel — a jargon-free, plain-English walkthrough for non-technical founders: what the code does, how data flows, and where the cost/safety risks hide.
- Executive channel — a business-impact briefing for tech leads: executive summary, ROI, risk/security, and ready-to-paste bullets for Slack, Jira, or a PR.
It runs on your existing GitHub Copilot seat (including Copilot Free) with zero configuration and zero hosting cost.
The Signal Station
The sidebar is a decoding station, not a chat box. You hoist a channel (Plain or Executive), drop in an intercepted selection, and watch it decode as it streams — then copy the transmission out.
| State |
What you see |
| Idle |
A channel legend explaining the two modes. |
| Decoding |
The intercepted source, a signal tether, and text decoding live behind a blinking station cursor. |
| Decoded |
Structured Markdown, ready to Copy Transmission. |
| Signal lost |
A clear station notice (no model, no selection, no staged changes, not a repo). |
The whole accent system re-colors when you switch channels (teal for Plain, amber for Executive). The UI is fully theme-aware across VS Code light, dark, and high-contrast themes.
Usage
- Translate a selection — select code (or place your cursor in any file), then run
Rosetta Bridge: Translate Selection from the Command Palette or the editor right-click menu. With no selection, the whole file is captured.
- Summarize staged changes — stage some changes (
git add …), then run Rosetta Bridge: Summarize Git Staged Changes. This reads git diff --cached and always frames it for stakeholders (Executive channel).
- Switch channels — click CH·1 PLAIN or CH·2 EXEC in the sidebar.
- Copy — hit Copy Transmission and paste into Slack, Jira, a PR, or an investor update.
Output streams into the Rosetta Bridge view in the Activity Bar.
Commands
| Command |
ID |
| Rosetta Bridge: Translate Selection |
rosettaBridge.translateSelection |
| Rosetta Bridge: Summarize Git Staged Changes |
rosettaBridge.summarizeStagedChanges |
Settings
| Setting |
Default |
Notes |
rosettaBridge.provider |
vscode-lm |
LLM provider. Only vscode-lm is implemented in this release; openai, anthropic, and ollama are listed for forward-compatibility and fall back to vscode-lm. |
rosettaBridge.defaultMode |
vibeCoder |
The channel selected when the panel opens (vibeCoder or executive). |
Requirements
- VS Code
^1.90.0
- An active GitHub Copilot session (the free tier works). Rosetta Bridge uses the native
vscode.lm API, so no API keys are required.
Architecture
A thin activation layer wires the commands and sidebar view to a small, testable core:
Command / Webview action
│
▼
Orchestrator (extension.ts) capture selection or git diff → pick channel → build messages
│
▼
ProviderRegistry ─▶ LLMProvider ─▶ VSCodeLMProvider (vscode.lm) [extensible: OpenAI/Anthropic/Ollama drop in here]
│ async-iterable text chunks
▼
SidebarViewProvider ──postMessage──▶ Signal Station webview (markdown-it, re-rendered per chunk)
src/core/ — pure, unit-tested logic: prompt templates, mode→prompt mapping, selection capture, git diff --cached classification.src/providers/ — the LLMProvider interface, the vscode.lm implementation, and the registry. New providers implement one streaming method.src/webview/ — the sidebar view provider (message bridge, CSP + nonce) and the vanilla-TS Signal Station UI.
Product truth lives in PRODUCT.md; the visual system is documented in DESIGN.md.
Development
npm install
npm run compile # build the extension + webview bundles (esbuild)
npm run watch # rebuild on change
npm run lint
npm run test:unit # fast mocha unit tests (core logic, no VS Code host)
npm test # integration tests via @vscode/test-electron
Then press F5 in VS Code to launch the Extension Development Host with Rosetta Bridge loaded.
Design preview
The webview can be rendered outside VS Code for visual review:
node scripts/preview.mjs # generate preview pages for every state × theme
node scripts/shoot.mjs # screenshot them with Playwright's isolated Chromium → .preview/shots/
Roadmap
- v1.1 — BYOK OpenAI/Anthropic providers (keys via
vscode.SecretStorage), local Ollama support, cost/compliance warning detector, and custom prompt templates.
License
MIT
