AI Switcher — VS Code Extension

A unified chat panel to switch between free AI providers without leaving VS Code.

Supported Providers (all free tier)

Setup

1. Install dependencies

npm install

2. Compile

npm run compile
# or watch mode:
npm run watch

3. Run the extension

Press F5 in VS Code to open the Extension Development Host.

4. Add your API keys

Open Settings (Ctrl+,) and search for aiSwitcher, or click the ⚙ Keys button in the panel.

Add keys for whichever providers you want to use:

• aiSwitcher.geminiApiKey
• aiSwitcher.groqApiKey
• aiSwitcher.mistralApiKey
• aiSwitcher.cohereApiKey

5. Open the chat

• Run command: AI Switcher: Open Chat from the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P)
• Or click the chat icon in the editor toolbar

Project Structure

src/
├── extension.ts       # Extension entry point
├── panel.ts           # Webview panel + message routing
├── providers.ts       # API calls for each provider
└── webviewContent.ts  # Chat UI HTML/CSS/JS

Extending

Add a new provider

1. Add the API key config in package.json → contributes.configuration.properties
2. Add the callXxx() function in providers.ts
3. Add a case in callProvider() switch
4. Add a button in webviewContent.ts

Publishing

npm install -g @vscode/vsce
vsce package    # → ai-switcher-0.0.1.vsix
vsce publish    # Publish to VS Code Marketplace