ApplyAIs for VS Code

ApplyAIs turns grant and funding applications into structured, local-first workspaces that are easier to edit with VS Code and AI coding agents.

Use ApplyAIs to extract questions from a DOCX application template, start from a published grant opportunity, edit each answer as Markdown, keep answer-version history, work with reusable applicant-organisation material, and export answers back to DOCX.

What ApplyAIs does

• Creates an ApplyAIs workspace from a structured .docx grant-application template.
• Creates projects from grant opportunities published through the ApplyAIs template catalogue.
• Stores application questions and answers as ordinary Markdown files so they can be edited directly or with compatible AI agents.
• Provides an ApplyAIs dashboard inside VS Code for navigating questions, guidance, word counts, supporting documents, comments, and answer history.
• Reinserts edited answers into DOCX, including tracked-change and comment workflows where supported by the source document.
• Supports reusable applicant organisations and local document-source mappings.

Local-first document handling

Application documents and resolved local document-source paths remain on your computer during the normal local project workflow. Reusable applicant organisations can be maintained in the licensed ApplyAIs portal and snapshotted into a project. Path templates are resolved locally; ApplyAIs servers do not receive the bytes of locally selected organisation documents, resolved local paths, or per-machine folder choices as part of that snapshot workflow.

See the public ApplyAIs Privacy Notice and PRIVACY.md for the extension-specific privacy notes.

Requirements

• Visual Studio Code 1.88 or later.
• A local desktop installation on Windows or Linux. The initial standalone release does not support macOS.
• Python available locally. When the Python path setting is empty, ApplyAIs uses the py launcher on Windows and python3 on Linux.
• Python packages used by the bundled backend source:
  • python-docx >= 1.2
  • lxml >= 5
  • Markdown >= 3.5
• Pandoc available on PATH for the DOCX-to-combined-Markdown conversion step.
• An ApplyAIs licence or trial token for licensed backend operations.

ApplyAIs checks these prerequisites before each document operation and reports the missing interpreter, package, or Pandoc installation with a recovery action. An extraction is reported as failed if Pandoc is missing or exits unsuccessfully; partial output must not be treated as a completed project.

Initial support matrix

Open the project in a local desktop VS Code window on Windows or Linux. ApplyAIs blocks document and snapshot operations in unsupported extension hosts so local paths cannot accidentally resolve or execute on a remote machine.

A typical Python dependency installation is:

python3 -m pip install "python-docx>=1.2,<2" "lxml>=5,<7" "Markdown>=3.5,<4"

On Windows, use the Python launcher if appropriate:

py -m pip install "python-docx>=1.2,<2" "lxml>=5,<7" "Markdown>=3.5,<4"

The Marketplace package contains the ApplyAIs backend Python source used by the extension, but the first Marketplace release intentionally uses the local Python runtime and Pandoc. Platform-specific self-contained backend binaries can be introduced in a later release without changing the ApplyAIs project format.

Getting started

1. Install the extension.
2. Open the ApplyAIs view in the Activity Bar.
3. Retrieve and enter an ApplyAIs licence token when prompted.
4. Choose ApplyAIs: Create Project From DOCX to extract a structured application template, or browse the available grant templates.
5. Edit the generated Markdown answers directly or with your preferred compatible AI agent.
6. Use the ApplyAIs dashboard to review the application and export/reinsert answers into DOCX.

Licence and pricing

The Marketplace listing is marked Free Trial because normal backend operations require a valid ApplyAIs licence or trial token. The client extension code is distributed under the licence in LICENSE; use of hosted ApplyAIs services may be subject to separate service terms.

Hosted services and subscriptions are governed by the ApplyAIs Terms of Service.

Licence tokens are stored using VS Code's SecretStorage API rather than ordinary workspace or user settings.

Settings

Useful settings include:

• applyais.backend.pythonPath — Python interpreter used by the bundled backend source.
• ApplyAIs licensing, template, and organisation requests are pinned to https://applyais.com; production settings cannot redirect bearer tokens to another origin.
• applyais.appearance.profile — choose VS Code-native or ApplyAIs Studio-style dashboard presentation.

Support

See SUPPORT.md for support information and known first-release prerequisites.

Product information: https://applyais.com

Privacy: https://applyais.com/legal/privacy/

Terms: https://applyais.com/legal/terms/

Development

The extension source lives under vscode-extension/. The Marketplace build deliberately assembles generated runtime files before packaging so a VSIX never depends on the repository's parent-directory layout.

cd vscode-extension
npm ci
npm --prefix webview-ui ci
npm test
npm run package

npm run package builds the React webview, copies the backend source and required project template into the extension payload, compiles the TypeScript extension, validates the expected runtime files, and then creates the VSIX with @vscode/vsce.