Too Many Cooks — VSCode Extension

Real-time dashboard for monitoring and managing multi-agent coordination.

See which AI agents are active, what files are locked,
and what messages are being exchanged — all from your editor.

Requirements

The Too Many Cooks MCP server must be running. Install and start it:

npx too-many-cooks

Or install globally:

npm install -g too-many-cooks
too-many-cooks

The server starts on http://localhost:4040. To use a different port:

TMC_PORT=5050 npx too-many-cooks

Connect Your AI Agents

Each agent connects to the MCP server via Streamable HTTP. Start the server first, then point your agent at it.

Claude Code

claude mcp add \
  --transport http \
  too-many-cooks \
  http://localhost:4040/mcp

Cursor

.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "too-many-cooks": {
      "url": "http://localhost:4040/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Cline

Add via Cline MCP Settings:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "too-many-cooks": {
      "url": "http://localhost:4040/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Codex

codex --mcp-server \
  http://localhost:4040/mcp

Install the Extension

Install from a .vsix file or the VSCode marketplace. The extension auto-connects to the server on port 4040.

If the server runs on a non-default port:

Setting	Default	Description
`tooManyCooks.port`	`4040`	MCP server port

{
  "tooManyCooks.port": 5050
}

Features

Agents Tree View

See which agents are online and active in the sidebar.

File Locks Tree View

See which files are locked and by whom. Expired locks are highlighted.

Messages Panel

Read inter-agent messages in real-time as they arrive.

Plans Panel

See what each agent is working on, their goals and current tasks.

Admin Commands

Force-release locks, delete agents, reset keys, send messages from the command palette.

Real-Time Updates

State changes arrive via MCP Streamable HTTP push. No polling.

How It Works

Communicates with the TMC server via /admin/* REST endpoints
Receives real-time state changes via MCP Streamable HTTP push (no polling)
Does not access the database directly

Build & Test

# Build the VSIX
bash scripts/vsix.sh build

# Install from source
bash scripts/vsix.sh install

# Run tests
npm test

# Run pure logic tests with coverage
npm run test:coverage

Too Many Cooks

Nimblesite