Shepherd

A VS Code extension that helps product managers work with AI coding agents like Claude Code. Manage tasks, capture requirements through AI interviews, and use voice-to-task conversion—all from your IDE.

Features

• Task Management — Create, prioritize, and track tasks with drag-and-drop reordering
• AI Requirements Interview — Claude interviews you to create structured requirement docs
• Voice Capture — Dictate tasks using local speech-to-text (no cloud APIs)
• MCP Integration — Claude Code can query tasks and update status automatically

Prerequisites

Claude Code CLI — Required. Install from claude.ai/code

Voice capture dependencies — Shepherd will guide you through installation:

• sox — Shepherd offers to install via Homebrew on macOS; manual install needed on Linux/Windows
• whisper.cpp — Automatically installed on first voice capture
• Whisper models — Downloaded automatically (~150MB for base model)

Getting Started

1. Open a project folder in VS Code
2. Click the Shepherd icon in the activity bar (left sidebar)
3. Click "Initialize Shepherd" when prompted
4. Shepherd creates:
   • .shepherd/ — Data storage and MCP server
   • docs/requirements/ — Requirements documents
   • .mcp.json — Claude Code MCP configuration

Usage

Creating Tasks

• Click the + button to add a task
• Use "New Feature (with Requirements)" to start an AI interview
• Use the microphone button to dictate tasks via voice

Task Workflow

1. Create tasks in the sidebar
2. Drag to reorder priority (top = highest priority)
3. Claude Code uses get_next_task to pick up work
4. Tasks move through: todo → in-progress → ready-for-signoff → done

Voice Capture

1. Click the microphone icon
2. Speak your tasks naturally (e.g., "Add a login page and fix the header bug")
3. Review the parsed tasks
4. Confirm to add them to your backlog

Requirements Interview

1. Click + → New Feature (with Requirements)
2. Answer Claude's questions about the feature
3. Review the generated requirements doc and tasks
4. Approve to create everything automatically

Known Limitations

• Voice capture requires sox to be installed and accessible in PATH
• Whisper model download (~150MB) happens on first voice capture
• MCP integration requires Claude Code CLI to be installed
• Currently single-user (no team collaboration features)

Troubleshooting

Voice capture not working?

• Ensure sox is installed: sox --version
• Check microphone permissions in System Settings

Claude Code not seeing tasks?

• Verify .mcp.json exists in your project root
• Restart Claude Code after initialization

Extension not activating?

• Check the Output panel → "Shepherd" for errors
• Ensure you have a folder open (not just a file)

License

Proprietary. See LICENSE file.