Sidekick AI
Sidekick AI is a VS Code extension for local-first, cloud-assisted coding. It indexes the active workspace locally, retrieves relevant code context, and sends that context plus your prompt to a cloud model for chat and inline code generation.
How it works
- Local indexing: Sidekick scans supported source and text files, chunks them, and builds a local vector/full-text index for code search.
- Hybrid retrieval: Relevant code snippets are retrieved from the local workspace index and included with the model request so the LLM can respond with project-aware suggestions.
- Cloud models: OpenRouter is the default provider, with OpenAI-compatible APIs and Anthropic also supported.
- BYOK model access: You provide your own API key and choose the provider/model you want to use.
The indexed workspace data stays on your machine. Prompts and retrieved snippets are sent to the cloud provider selected in VS Code settings.
Get started
- Install Sidekick AI in VS Code and open a project folder.
- Open the Command Palette (
Ctrl+Shift+P on Windows/Linux or Cmd+Shift+P on macOS).
- Run Sidekick AI: Set Cloud API Key and paste your provider API key when prompted.
- Open Open Sidekick Chat from the Command Palette to start chatting with the extension.
The API key is stored with VS Code SecretStorage, not inside the workspace or settings.json.
The extension exposes these settings under the sidekick namespace:
{
"sidekick.provider": "openrouter",
"sidekick.selectedModel": "openrouter/free",
"sidekick.baseUrl": "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1"
}
OpenAI
{
"sidekick.provider": "openai",
"sidekick.selectedModel": "openai/gpt-4o-mini",
"sidekick.baseUrl": "https://api.openai.com/v1"
}
OpenRouter
Use openrouter as the provider and choose a model ID supported by OpenRouter. sidekick.baseUrl can be overridden for OpenAI-compatible endpoints as needed.
Anthropic
Use anthropic as the provider and select an Anthropic-supported model.
Commands
- Sidekick AI: Set Cloud API Key — store your provider API key securely.
- Open Sidekick Chat — launch the chat interface.
Notes
- The extension is designed for local workspace-aware coding assistance, not a remote-only assistant.
- The provider may charge for API usage according to the provider's pricing and terms.
