AI Agents Terminal

Launch the AI CLI coding assistants installed on your machine (Claude Code / Codex / Cursor / …) from the VS Code status bar with one click, opening each in a logo'd terminal tab. Supports a YOLO (auto-approve) mode, filters by what's installed, and lets you freely add / remove / configure agents — no code changes required.

Features

• Status-bar launcher: a 🤖 AI Agents button at bottom-right → opens a Quick Pick listing only the agents installed on PATH (with logos); pick one to open it in a new terminal tab.
• YOLO mode: toggle via the Y status-bar button or the Ctrl/Cmd+Alt+Y shortcut; when on, each agent launches with its own auto-approve args (e.g. Claude's --dangerously-skip-permissions).
• Resume mode: toggle via the R status-bar button or the Ctrl/Cmd+Alt+R shortcut; when on, each agent launches with its own resumeFlag (e.g. Claude's -r) to continue the most recent session.
• Data-driven: the built-in agents (defined in the root agents.json) ship by default; override params, hide, or add custom agents from Settings — no code changes needed.
• Terminal profiles: installed agents are registered as Terminal profiles, surfacing in Terminal: Select Default Profile (filtered by install status, can be set as the default terminal).

Screenshots

Status bar — 🤖 AI Agents, Y, and R buttons in the bottom-right corner:

Quick Pick — click 🤖 AI Agents to choose an installed agent (logos from agents.json):

Install

Run from source (development / trial)

1. Install dependencies: npm install
2. Compile: npm run compile (or npm run watch to rebuild on change)
3. Press F5 to open the Extension Development Host window; the new window's status bar shows 🤖 AI Agents.

Package / install as VSIX

• Package: npx @vscode/vsce package (produces a *.vsix)
• Install: in VS Code run Extensions: Install from VSIX... and pick the generated file.

Usage

Launch an agent

• Click 🤖 AI Agents at bottom-right, choose from the Quick Pick (only installed agents are listed), and it opens in a new terminal tab.
• Or run AI Agents from the Command Palette (command id ai-agents-terminal.openMenu).
• A Settings item is pinned at the bottom of the Quick Pick to open this extension's settings page directly.

YOLO mode (auto-approve)

• Click the Y status-bar button, or use Ctrl+Alt+Y (Cmd+Alt+Y on macOS).
• When on, the button highlights; launching an agent automatically appends that agent's skipFlag.

Resume mode (continue session)

• Click the R status-bar button, or use Ctrl+Alt+R (Cmd+Alt+R on macOS).
• When on, the button highlights; launching an agent automatically appends that agent's resumeFlag from agents.json (e.g. Claude -r, Codex --resume, Cursor --resume), continuing the previous session. Agents without a resumeFlag (e.g. Continue, Kimi, Qoder) append nothing even when on.
• YOLO and Resume can be on together; args are ordered baseArgs → skipFlag → resumeFlag.

Configure agents (no code required)

The aiAgentsTerminal.agents setting is a list of overrides / additions merged with the built-in catalog in agents.json: match a built-in by command to override it (only the fields you set are replaced); set enabled to false to hide a built-in; use a command not present in agents.json to add a custom agent.

• Edit: the built-ins live in the root agents.json; to tweak a built-in, append an override entry with the same command (only the fields you want to change).

• Override params: change only the fields you want, e.g. set claude's skipFlag to "--new-flag".

• Hide: delete the entry, or keep it and set enabled to false.

• Add a custom agent: append an entry whose command isn't built-in, e.g.:

  { "command": "myagent", "displayName": "My Agent", "baseArgs": "run", "iconFile": "myagent.png" }
  

  (omit iconFile to use the default terminal icon.)

• When it takes effect: changes apply the next time the picker opens (read live at runtime, no window reload needed).

Fields: command (required) / displayName / baseArgs / skipFlag / resumeFlag / iconFile / enabled / id.

Uniqueness: command, displayName, and id must each be unique. On duplicates the extension warns and drops the duplicate (keeping the first occurrence).

Built-in agent list

Logos live in media/agents/ (PNG). The picker shows only the display name, not the command / id.

Terminal profiles (Terminal: Select Default Profile)

Each installed agent is registered at runtime as a Terminal profile via registerTerminalProfileProvider, appearing in the Command Palette's Terminal: Select Default Profile where it can be set as the default terminal; the terminal icon is the agent logo.

Platform limitation: in this VS Code build, extension profiles do not appear in the Terminal + caret dropdown or the title-bar menu — only in Select Default Profile (see "Platform limitations" below).

Settings reference

Commands:

Contributing / secondary development

Environment

• Node.js + npm
• VS Code ^1.85.0
• TypeScript ^5.4.0

Build & debug

• npm install to install devDependencies (typescript / @types/node / @types/vscode).
• npm run compile compiles src/*.ts → out/ (plain tsc, no bundling step).
• npm run watch rebuilds on change.
• Press F5 to launch the Extension Development Host and set breakpoints in src/extension.ts.

Project structure

ai-agents-vsc/
├── package.json          # manifest: name=ai-agents-terminal, publisher=cnsharpstudio
│                         #   contributes.configuration: yoloMode / agents / installedAgents
│                         #   contributes.commands + keybindings
├── tsconfig.json         # TS config (outDir=out, rootDir=src)
├── src/
│   ├── extension.ts      # entry: registers commands + status-bar buttons; QuickPick lists
│   │                     #   installed agents; dynamically registers Terminal profiles
│   │                     #   (registerTerminalProfileProvider)
│   ├── agents.ts         # loads the built-in catalog from agents.json + resolveAgents()/getAgentConfigWarnings()
│   │                     #   (merges built-ins with the aiAgentsTerminal.agents setting, dedupes)
│   └── agentDetector.ts  # isInstalled(): runs `<command> --version` to probe PATH
│                         #   (login shell -lc, honours nvm/fnm/brew/npm-global; where on win32)
├── media/agents/         # agent logos (PNG)
├── .vscode/              # launch.json (Run Extension) + tasks.json (npm compile)
└── out/                  # build output (tsc)

Architecture notes

1. Launcher (status bar): activate() first refreshes the installed cache (refreshInstalledCache, probing PATH only once across windows), the 🤖 AI Agents button opens a Quick Pick listing only cached installed agents, and selection launches via vscode.window.createTerminal using the agent's command + baseArgs (plus skipFlag in YOLO mode), with the logo icon.
2. Install detection: isInstalled(command) runs <command> --version in a login-interactive shell, treating exit code 0 as installed; results are cached in the global installedAgents setting so PATH isn't re-probed per window. agentDetector.ts uses $SHELL -lc on macOS/Linux and where on Windows, so it honours PATH injected by rc files (nvm / fnm / brew / npm-global, etc.).
3. Terminal profiles (install-filtered): registerInstalledTerminalProfiles() registers a TerminalProfileProvider per installed agent, so Terminal: Select Default Profile lists only what's installed; uninstalled agents never appear. This improves on the static contributes.terminal.profiles declaration, which can't filter by install status.
4. Settings-driven: resolveAgents() merges the agents.json built-in catalog with the aiAgentsTerminal.agents setting by command, and validates command / displayName / id uniqueness (getAgentConfigWarnings emits the warnings).

How to add an agent

Two paths, depending on whether you want to ship code:

Path A: settings only (recommended, user-side, no rebuild)

Append an entry to aiAgentsTerminal.agents in your settings.json:

{ "command": "myagent", "displayName": "My Agent", "baseArgs": "", "skipFlag": "--auto", "iconFile": "myagent.png" }

Drop the logo into media/agents/myagent.png — no recompile needed.

Path B: add as a built-in (code-side)

1. Edit the root agents.json and append an entry (id / command / displayName / baseArgs / skipFlag / iconFile).
2. Put the corresponding PNG into media/agents/.
3. npm run compile, then reload the window.

Note: the runtime setting is authoritative. If a user has overridden aiAgentsTerminal.agents, a newly added built-in only appears once they also add it to their setting (or remove the override to restore the defaults).