Aster for VS Code and Cursor

An AI coding agent in your sidebar: ask about the code, let it make edits, and run a verified code review that streams its findings into the chat.

Works in VS Code and Cursor.

Getting started

1. Install the extension. The CLI it runs comes with it, so there is nothing else to download.
2. Open the panel with cmd+shift+a (ctrl+shift+a on Windows and Linux), pick a provider, and sign in or paste an API key.

That is the whole setup. If you already use Aster in the terminal, the panel picks up your existing config and keys and skips step 2.

Want aster in your terminal too? Run Aster: Install 'aster' Command in PATH from the command palette and it links the bundled binary into ~/.local/bin.

On a platform without a prebuilt binary, the panel shows an install card with a button that fetches one for you. To do it by hand instead:

curl -fsSL https://withaster.dev/install | sh

Point aster.binaryPath at an existing binary if you would rather use your own.

What you can do

Chat. Ask a question and the agent answers with your repo as its working directory, so it can read and search the code. Type @ to mention a file, or drag one onto the composer from the explorer or your file manager. alt+a sends the current selection with its line numbers.

Edit. The agent edits files directly. The chip next to the composer sets how much it asks first:

Approvals appear inline in the chat. Files it changed are listed under the reply, and clicking one opens it. Paths you protect in aster.yaml stay blocked in every mode except Yolo.

Review. Hit Review to check your uncommitted work, or review a branch, a git range, or a GitHub PR. Findings arrive as they are confirmed, one row each, with the fix and a link to the line. Turn on aster.publishDiagnostics to get them as squiggles and Problems entries too. The Aster icon in the activity bar keeps the last review's findings as a sorted list.

Reviews stay in the chat, so you can follow up: "why is finding 2 critical?"

The command menu

Everything the panel does lives in one filterable menu. Press / in an empty composer, or cmd+alt+k.

Each row shows its current value on the right, so the menu doubles as a readout of which model is live and what is turned on. Switch model reads the catalog from your provider every time it opens, so you can search for a model by name instead of remembering its id.

Status, uncommitted changes, memory, and compact all answer with a card in the thread without spending a model call.

Commands and shortcuts

Use ctrl in place of cmd on Windows and Linux.

The panel can also be moved to a new tab, the primary editor, a new window, or the side bar. Reviews have their own commands (review the branch, a range, or a PR by number; cancel; clear findings), as does fixing a single finding.

Settings

Aster: Open Settings opens a tab showing every aster.yaml key, its current value, and where that value came from, editable in place. It is the same data aster config prints in the terminal.

The extension adds four settings of its own:

• aster.binaryPath — use a different aster binary
• aster.minConfidence — hide findings below this confidence
• aster.publishDiagnostics — also report findings in the Problems tab (off by default)
• aster.extraArgs — extra arguments for every review

Everything else (provider, model, globs, analyzers, permissions) comes from aster.yaml and your environment, exactly as it does for the CLI. A provider picked in the panel applies to this panel only and never rewrites your config.

Development

cd editors/vscode
bun install
bun run build      # tsc for the extension host, vite for the webview bundle

build:host compiles src/ to out/; build:webview bundles the React panel to media/webview/, loaded under a strict CSP. src/protocol.ts is the message contract shared by both.

Press F5 for an Extension Development Host, or bun run package for a VSIX.