Trie Coding Agent

AI coding agent for VS Code by Trie (trie.dev) — run open models locally or plug in any LLM API, with a real tool loop for reading, editing, and running commands in your workspace.

Features

• Works alongside you: Trie autonomously explores your codebase, reads and writes files, and runs terminal commands — always with your approval
• Bring your own model: Local .gguf via an embedded daemon, or any LLM API — Ollama, LM Studio, OpenAI, Kimi, and more
• A real agent loop: read_file, grep, glob, edit_file, write_file, run_command, and a live todo list — then a summary when done
• Checkpoints & rollback: Every Code-mode turn snapshots your workspace; one click reverts everything the agent changed
• Workspace-aware: Detects your project type (Node, Xcode, Rust, Go, Python, …) and scopes a file tree into the first prompt
• Hybrid mode: Your local model runs every tool call — a frontier model chimes in via research-backed escalation (decomposition, uncertainty, self-grade, evidence-grounded review). Frontier-level judgment without frontier-level token bills.
• Web search: Optional web_search tool via Exa, Tavily, or Ceramic — queries go directly from your machine with your API key

Modes

Trie adapts to how you work:

• Code — full agent: edits files, runs commands (with approval), takes a checkpoint before each turn. Complex asks get a live task list the agent checks off as it works
• Plan — read-only exploration, then a numbered implementation plan to review before you switch to Code
• Ask — read-only Q&A about your codebase, no file changes

Install

Trie Coding Agent requires VS Code 1.96.0 or later.

1. Install from the VS Code Marketplace
2. Open a folder in VS Code
3. Click the Trie hammer icon in the Activity Bar
4. Click Settings and pick your backend — or use Connect to load a local .gguf

Ollama (easiest)

ollama pull qwen2.5-coder:7b

Then Settings → LLM API → Ollama preset, or set trie-ide.backend to openai-compatible with base URL http://127.0.0.1:11434/v1 and model qwen2.5-coder:7b.

LM Studio

Load a model, start the local server (port 1234), then Settings → LM Studio preset.

Embedded daemon (local .gguf)

Connect → Pick a .gguf file. Requires Node.js and npm on your PATH. On first use the extension downloads the inference runtime (~40 MB) into VS Code storage.

Settings

Click Settings in the sidebar for a full settings page: backend, model, agent budget, hybrid mode, and web search. Everything saves as you edit.

Search Trie Coding Agent in VS Code settings for the raw trie-ide.* keys.

Hybrid mode

Your local model does the work — reading files, searching, editing, running commands. That stays on your machine and costs nothing beyond compute.

Hybrid adds a frontier model sparingly, using research-backed escalation instead of calling the cloud on every grep:

What you get (typical Code-mode turn with Hybrid on)

These are design targets grounded in the published cascade/collaboration literature and what the extension actually measures in Output → Trie Coding Agent:

• 5.7–30× fewer frontier tokens than running the whole turn in the cloud — local model owns every tool call; frontier is capped at ~6 short consults per turn
• ~85–98% cost reduction vs cloud-only agenting on multi-step tasks (same band as FrugalGPT / RouteLLM when the local model handles exploration)
• Higher finish quality on large asks — decomposition recovers most of the gap between naive local-only and frontier-only (Minions reports 87% → 98% recovery)
• Fewer bad completes — self-grade + verification output catches “looks done but tests fail” before you accept the turn
• Earlier recovery when stuck — uncertainty + failure triggers consult earlier than waiting for 4 consecutive tool errors

Per-turn telemetry is logged after each run, e.g. hybrid: 2 frontier call(s), decomposed=true, uncertainty=1, selfGrade=0.42, evidenceFiles=3.

Enable in Settings → Hybrid mode (OpenAI, Anthropic, or Moonshot AI / Kimi), or run Trie Coding Agent: Configure Hybrid Mode from the Command Palette.

Web search

Gives the agent a web_search tool for current docs, APIs, and error messages. Configure in Settings → Web search (Exa, Tavily, or Ceramic).

Safety

• File operations stay inside the workspace root
• run_command always asks for explicit approval
• Nothing leaves your machine unless you use a cloud API, hybrid mode, or web search

Part of the Trie ecosystem.

License

Apache-2.0