CKB for VS Code

A living architecture graph of your codebase, change-impact verdicts with affected tests, and cursor-driven navigation between your editor and CKB Cloud.

Getting Started

CKB works out of the box against CKB Cloud — there is no local server to install.

1. Create a free account at ckb.adascannerpro.com.
2. Create an API key on the API keys page (keys start with ckb_live_).
3. Store the key in the extension: run CKB: Set API Key from the Command Palette (or set ckb.apiKey). The status bar reads CKB Cloud · connected once the key is accepted.
4. Run CKB: Scan Project. The extension packages your workspace and uploads it to your own CKB Cloud project. Dependency, VCS and build folders are excluded and oversized or binary files are skipped — the exclusions are shown before upload. From that scan you get the living architecture graph, and every change-impact verdict — direct callers, downstream dependents and the affected tests — is computed from it.

Auto-scan on open and rescan on save never upload anything; they use local analysis only. Cloud upload happens only when you run Scan Project yourself.

What makes the extension different

CKB does not treat a repository as a flat list of files. The extension continuously relates the editor cursor to the larger software system and keeps three evidence classes separate:

• STATIC — scanned source/AST and architecture relationships
• RUNTIME — exact observed execution from telemetry
• PREDICTED — impact/ripple simulation before a change

Static dependencies are never animated or highlighted as if they executed.

Invisible Reality V11

Cursor-Driven Semantic Editor Reality

Move through source and CKB resolves the current software depth:

LINE → CALL → SYMBOL → FILE → SUBSYSTEM → SYSTEM

In AUTO mode the depth responds to source selection and the visible editor scale. You can also control it explicitly:

• CKB: Semantic Zoom In
• CKB: Semantic Zoom Out
• CKB: Semantic Zoom Auto
• CKB: Inspect Semantic Reality at Cursor

The editor status item exposes the current semantic target. Hovering highlighted source shows system/subsystem/file/symbol context plus fan-in/fan-out and change-sensitivity evidence when the local deep architecture bundle resolves the cursor.

Exact Runtime Source Fusion

When the configured Reality server provides exact-observed-span-instances, CKB maps matching trace identities back to the active file/symbol and highlights the observed source/target context directly in the editor.

Runtime context can include HTTP, database, cache, queue, event, WebSocket and internal function transitions together with observed duration and error state. If telemetry is unavailable, the runtime layer stays off rather than creating decorative execution.

Molecular + Live Reality Sidebar

The CKB Invisible Reality activity-bar view includes deep architecture activity and hotspots, semantic/molecular/state/nanotrace lenses, exact runtime transmission filtering, bounded architecture memory, cursor change-ripple access and Cloud Living Universe continuity.

IDE ↔ Cloud Semantic Reality Continuity

The editor context menu can carry the current navigation target into CKB Cloud without embedding source contents in the URL:

• CKB: Continue Cursor Reality in Cloud opens the same file/line in Cloud X-Ray.
• CKB: Ask CKB About Cursor Reality opens the same source target with the global evidence-grounded CKB console.
• When an exact observed trace maps to the cursor, CKB also carries its trace id, step and flow classification as navigation context.

Cloud then resolves the IDE hint against its authoritative scanned graph. If a matching architecture node exists, X-Ray, Universe, Biology and the CKB console can converge on that same node. URL metadata never becomes Cloud evidence by itself.

For VS Code handoffs, the Cloud continuity surface can also return the current Cloud-selected source/runtime target back into the IDE. CKB uses the registered vscode://TechCodinz.ckb-vscode/open URI handler, but the extension only opens files that resolve inside an already-open workspace. The handoff accepts navigation metadata only—never source text, patches, credentials or executable commands.

Core features

• 🔬 Semantic Editor Reality — Cursor-aware LINE/CALL/SYMBOL/FILE/SUBSYSTEM/SYSTEM navigation
• 🟢 Exact Runtime Evidence — Runtime source context only when observed traces actually exist
• ↔ Bidirectional Cloud Continuity — IDE → Cloud → current Cloud target → VS Code
• 🔍 Scan — Full codebase architecture scan
• ⚠️ Inline Diagnostics — Architecture findings in source files
• ⚡ Impact Analysis — Predict direct/transitive change ripple at the cursor
• 🧠 Architecture Memory — Bounded model-ready architecture context
• 🛡️ Architecture Check — CI-style architecture guardrail check
• 🤖 MCP / Agent Integration — Expose CKB architecture intelligence to compatible AI clients
• 🌌 Cloud Living Universe — Continue investigations across deeper visual/runtime surfaces

Requirements

• Primary path — CKB Cloud (nothing to install): a free CKB Cloud account and an API key, as in Getting Started. Scan upload, change-impact verdicts, architecture memory and CKB converse all run against your Cloud project.
• Advanced — your own CKB engine: if you run your own CKB server, point ckb.serverUrl at it (its default is CKB Cloud, https://ckb.adascannerpro.com). The local deep-architecture features can additionally use the CKB CLI/intelligence binaries when installed (ckb.cliBinary, ckb.intelligenceBinary); the Cloud features above work without them. Runtime source fusion requires a CKB Reality server receiving telemetry for the project.

Plans

The extension and a CKB Cloud account start free. Pro is $29/month. The current plan comparison lives at ckb.adascannerpro.com/pricing.

Command Palette

Keyboard shortcuts

• Inspect semantic reality: Shift+Alt+R
• Semantic zoom in: Shift+Alt+]
• Semantic zoom out: Shift+Alt+[
• Cursor ripple: Shift+Ctrl+I (Shift+Cmd+I on macOS)
• Architecture memory: Shift+Ctrl+M (Shift+Cmd+M on macOS)

Example configuration

{
  "ckb.serverUrl": "https://ckb.adascannerpro.com",
  "ckb.editorSemanticReality": true,
  "ckb.liveRuntimePolling": true,
  "ckb.runtimePollIntervalMs": 2500,
  "ckb.autoScanOnOpen": true,
  "ckb.showDiagnostics": true,
  "ckb.cloudExplorerUrl": "https://ckb.adascannerpro.com/project/current"
}

Important evidence contract

CKB uses this rule throughout the extension:

• STATIC means the source/architecture graph says a relationship can exist.
• RUNTIME means telemetry observed execution.
• PREDICTED means a simulation or proposed change.

A missing runtime connection does not reduce static architecture usefulness; it simply means CKB refuses to pretend that an unobserved dependency executed.