Kete Code

Kete Code is an AI coding agent for your workspace. Ask it to build, fix or explain something in the chat: it reads the code, plans, edits files, runs commands, and shows the changes for review.

The agent runs next to your code. The extension includes the kete runtime for your platform and starts it for you, so there is nothing else to install.

Getting started

1. Open a folder in VS Code, or in a fork such as Windsurf, Cursor or VSCodium (below).
2. Click the Kete Code icon in the activity bar (or run Kete Code: Open Chat).
3. Connect a model: sign in to your Kete account (click Kete in the status bar, then Sign in to Kete Code), or connect your own provider key or a local model from the chat's settings.
4. Describe what you want to do.

Features

• Chat beside your editor: Cmd+Esc / Ctrl+Esc focuses it, Cmd+Shift+Esc / Ctrl+Shift+Esc starts a new chat. Prefer it on the right? Run Kete Code: Move Chat to Right Side Bar.
• Your editor in context: the file you're in, and your selection, follow you into the chat as a context item (turn off with kete.chat.shareEditorContext). Alt+K adds the selection or file explicitly. Secret files (.env, keys) and files.exclude matches are never shared automatically.
• Never miss a prompt: a badge on the chat and in the status bar shows approvals waiting for you, and a notification tells you when Kete Code needs you or finishes while the chat is hidden.
• Review changes: Kete Code: Review Changes (or the chat's title bar) opens every file the last turn changed in VS Code's multi-file diff editor, before on the left and your file on the right, so the editor's own arrows undo single changes. Revert File in the diff's title bar puts a whole file back as it was before the turn, after asking. Selecting a file in the chat's review opens that turn's diff.
• MCP servers: the MCP Servers view shows each server's state. One your organization adds that runs a command on your computer waits for you: Review and Approve shows the exact command, and it runs only after you approve it (again, if it ever changes). Sign In handles servers that use OAuth.
• Ask before edits: click the shield in the chat's title bar, or the Auto / Ask / Plan toggle next to send in the composer, and Kete Code asks before every file edit, shell command and web fetch in that chat (the status bar shows "Ask"). New chats follow kete.chat.askBeforeEdits. Plan switches to the read-only Plan agent. Neither Ask nor Plan ever allows what the agent's permissions or your organization's policy deny. In Ask mode an "Always allow" answered earlier doesn't skip the question.
• Your editor's diagnostics: Kete Code can ask the editor for the errors and warnings your language servers and linters report (the editor_diagnostics tool), so it checks its edits the way you would. Secret files and files.exclude matches are left out; turn it off with kete.editorTools.enabled.
• Sessions: the Sessions view lists this workspace's sessions, marks those working or waiting for your approval, and opens one in the chat. Copy Session Link (on each session) makes a link back to it in your editor's own scheme (vscode://ketecode.kete-code/session?id=… in VS Code, windsurf://…, cursor://… or vscodium://… in the forks).
• Looks like VS Code: the chat takes your theme's colours and fonts, and follows theme changes.
• Send Selection / Send File to Chat (editor context menu) to add code to the prompt.
• Terminal: the Kete Code terminal UI beside the editor (Kete Code: Open Kete Code in the command palette; Cmd+Alt+K / Ctrl+Alt+K inserts the current file into it).
• Your models: your Kete account, your own keys for the major providers, or local models (Ollama, LM Studio, any OpenAI-compatible server).

Using Kete Code in Windsurf, Cursor or VSCodium

The extension uses only VS Code's public extension API, so it runs unchanged in VS Code forks.

• Install from Open VSX, the extension registry these editors use: search for Kete Code in the Extensions view. Or install a downloaded package: windsurf --install-extension kete-code-<version>-<platform>.vsix (cursor, codium likewise), or drag the .vsix onto the Extensions view. Pick the package for your platform: it carries that platform's kete.
• Requirements: an editor based on VS Code 1.94 or later (current Windsurf, Cursor and VSCodium releases are all well past that).
• Keyboard shortcuts: Kete Code's defaults (Cmd+Esc/Ctrl+Esc, Cmd+Shift+Esc/ Ctrl+Shift+Esc, Alt+K, Cmd+Alt+K/Ctrl+Alt+K) stay clear of the forks' own AI shortcuts (Cmd+L, Cmd+I, Cmd+K, Cmd+E and their Ctrl versions). To change one, open Preferences: Open Keyboard Shortcuts from the command palette and search for kete.. On Windows, Ctrl+Esc and Ctrl+Shift+Esc are taken by the system (Start menu, Task Manager), so bind Kete Code: Focus Chat and Kete Code: New Chat to other keys there.
• Known differences: the chat, sign-in, sessions, review, MCP servers and diagnostics work the same as in VS Code; the editor's own AI chat runs alongside and is separate from Kete Code. Links that open a session use the editor's own scheme, so a link copied in Windsurf opens in Windsurf.

Manual checklist (Windsurf and Cursor)

CI runs the extension's end-to-end test in VS Code and VSCodium. Windsurf and Cursor can't be downloaded for automated tests, so check them by hand after each release, with a fresh profile (--user-data-dir):

• [ ] Install Kete Code from Open VSX (or the .vsix); the installed package has bin/kete (kete.exe on Windows), not a universal package without one.
• [ ] Open a git folder. The status bar shows Kete · Signed out; the Kete Code icon is in the activity bar.
• [ ] Sign in to Kete Code: the browser opens the portal, approving it signs you in.
• [ ] Open the chat (Cmd+Esc / Ctrl+Esc or the icon); ask for a small edit; it applies.
• [ ] The file you're in shows as a context chip; Alt+K adds the selection.
• [ ] Review Changes opens the multi-file diff; Revert File asks, then puts the file back.
• [ ] Copy Session Link gives a windsurf:// (or cursor://) link; opening it opens that session in the same editor.
• [ ] The editor's own AI shortcuts (Cmd+L, Cmd+I, Cmd+K) still open its own features.
• [ ] Restart Server reconnects the chat; closing the window leaves no kete serve running.

Signing in

Sign in to Kete Code opens the Kete portal in your browser to approve the sign-in. The key it issues is stored in your operating system's credential store (macOS Keychain, Windows Credential Manager or the Linux Secret Service), never in VS Code settings. The status bar shows the account you are signed in to; Sign Out revokes the key.

Platforms

Windows (x64, arm64), macOS (Apple silicon, Intel) and Linux (x64, arm64, including Alpine). The editor installs the build for your platform. With Remote-SSH, WSL or Dev Containers the extension and the agent run on the remote side, next to the code.

Privacy and security

• Your code leaves your machine only as context for the model provider you choose (the Kete gateway when you are signed in, or your own provider or local model), and in the requests the agent makes when it uses its web search and web fetch tools.
• The extension sends no telemetry.
• The agent runs on a local server that listens only on 127.0.0.1, uses a new password for each session, and refuses requests from other programs and web pages.
• By default the agent edits files and runs commands in the workspace without asking; it asks before reading .env files or working outside the workspace folder. Change this with Kete Code's permissions settings (allow, ask or deny per action, for example shell commands or edits). Agents managed by your organization come with their own permissions.

Settings

License

MIT. Kete Code is built on OpenCode (MIT); see NOTICE.