CodeBuddy

Teambotics CodeBuddy is a VS Code extension and MCP server for multi-agent coordination on a shared codebase. It provides file locking, structured handoffs, live session state, a dashboard, an agent template catalog, and wiki-backed project context.

The GitHub repository is still hosted at nickhilster/CodeConductor, but the product and extension name is now CodeBuddy.

Getting Started

The fastest way to learn CodeBuddy is the built-in interactive walkthrough. After installing, VS Code opens it automatically. You can also reopen it anytime:

1. Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P).
2. Run Welcome: Open Walkthrough…
3. Choose CodeBuddy: Get Started.

The walkthrough takes you from first install to a completed coordination cycle (session → lock → handoff → claim → complete) with illustrated diagrams at every step. Once done, the Connect External Agents walkthrough covers wiring in Claude Code, Copilot, or Cursor via MCP.

Install

VS Code Marketplace

1. Open VS Code.
2. Go to Extensions.
3. Search for Teambotics CodeBuddy.
4. Click Install.
5. Reload VS Code if prompted.

VSIX

code --install-extension teambotics-codebuddy-0.3.0.vsix

From Source

git clone https://github.com/nickhilster/CodeConductor.git
cd CodeConductor
npm install
npm run compile

Press F5 in VS Code to launch an Extension Development Host.

How To Use

VS Code Extension Flow

1. Open any project folder in VS Code.
2. Click the CodeBuddy activity bar icon, or run CodeBuddy: Open Full Dashboard.
3. Start a session with CodeBuddy: Start Session.
4. Use the dashboard or tree view to monitor sessions, locks, handoffs, and wiki context.
5. Create or claim work with CodeBuddy: Create Handoff and CodeBuddy: Claim Next Handoff.

Optional Repo Config

Create .codebuddy.json in the workspace root to override defaults:

{
  "agentCoordination": {
    "defaultModel": "gpt-4",
    "budget": 120000
  },
  "tools": {
    "fileLocking": true,
    "handoffWorkflows": true
  }
}

Legacy .codeconductor.json files are still supported and load automatically.

MCP Client Setup

If you want external MCP clients such as Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, or Windsurf to connect to the bundled server, add .mcp.json to the workspace root:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "codebuddy": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["codebuddy-server"],
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}

What You Get

• File locking — prevents write collisions between concurrent agents
• Structured handoffs — create, claim, and complete work items with full audit trail
• Live dashboard — real-time session, lock, and handoff state in VS Code's sidebar and an optional full-page view
• Session health — heartbeat tracking, stale-session auto-marking, and event visibility
• Wiki-backed project context — auto-ingests and retrieves structured knowledge from .codeconductor/wiki/ (Karpathy LLM Wiki pattern)
• Token budget tracking — per-session token accounting with advisory batching and cache recommendations
• MCP server — 24 cc_* tools over stdio for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Windsurf, and any MCP-compatible client
• Agent template catalog — pre-built coordination agent definitions in templates/agents/
• Interactive walkthrough — step-by-step in-editor tutorial that gets you from zero to a completed coordination cycle
• One-command MCP wiring — Scaffold .mcp.json generates the correct config for any workspace

Main Commands

Documentation

• docs/INSTALLATION.md
• docs/QUICKSTART.md
• docs/CONFIGURATION.md
• docs/API.md
• docs/MCP-INTEGRATION.md
• docs/TROUBLESHOOTING.md
• CHANGELOG.md

Development

npm run compile
npm test -- --runInBand
npm run package:vsix

The packaged artifact for this release is teambotics-codebuddy-0.3.0.vsix (1.1 MB).