hyperfocus for VS Code

Your AI agent writes the code. hyperfocus makes sure you understand it.

While Claude Code, Codex CLI or Gemini CLI works, hyperfocus asks you short multiple-choice questions about the change it's making: spot the bug, predict the behaviour, why this approach. This extension puts those questions in your editor.

What you get

• Questions in the sidebar while your agent works. Click an answer or press 1–9. You see right away whether you were right, and why. The terminal stays on your agent; if the sidebar is closed, hyperfocus asks there instead.
• The first question within seconds of your prompt, before the agent has edited anything: hyperfocus learns your project in the background and asks about the plan for your prompt first.
• Every question says where it comes from: the file and lines, or the plan for your prompt.
• Next, Save, or ask a follow-up about the answer. Skip or flag a bad question with one click.
• Got one wrong? Explain the idea gives a short lesson using your own code, and the question comes back a day, three days and a week later until it sticks.
• Jump to the code. Click the question's file to open it at the lines the question is about.
• Gutter marks. Lines you've been quizzed on get a green or red dot. Hover it for the question.
• Review staged changes. The 🎓 button in the Source Control view quizzes you on your own staged diff before you commit. No agent needed.
• Your progress: how many you've answered, how often you're right, your streak, the topics worth another look, and your saved questions.
• Status bar and a notification when the agent finishes.

Get started

1. Install a coding agent: Claude Code, Codex CLI or Gemini CLI.
2. Open the hyperfocus sidebar and click Start. It runs your agent through hyperfocus in a terminal (with npx if you haven't installed it: npm i -g @ddalus/hyperfocus).
3. Give the agent a task. Questions show up in the sidebar while it works.

The Learn while your AI codes walkthrough (Help → Welcome) goes through the same steps.

Privacy and cost

The extension never calls a model and never sends anything anywhere. It reads the files hyperfocus writes in ~/.hyperfocus and follows a running session over a local socket that only your user can open. The questions are written by hyperfocus using your agent's own login, about $0.004 per batch of three on Claude Haiku. What it costs.

Settings

The live view needs hyperfocus 0.7.0 or later (lessons, repeats and plan sources: 1.0.0). With an older one the panel says so.

Cursor, Windsurf and other Open VSX editors (experimental): install ddalus.hyperfocus from Open VSX.

Developing

npm test runs the tests with plain node. live.test.js connects to hyperfocus's real bridge from ../src, so the two can't drift apart unnoticed. The webview, commands and decorations aren't tested automatically; before a release, check them by hand in VS Code with the new hyperfocus:

• [ ] Start from the panel (one agent, several, none; hyperfocus installed and not): no prompts
• [ ] Sidebar open: the terminal stays on the agent and the question appears in the panel; sidebar closed: the terminal asks
• [ ] Answer by click and by 1–9; Next, Save, follow-up, skip, not a good question
• [ ] A wrong answer offers Explain the idea (also e), once; the lesson shows as "The idea behind it"
• [ ] A question before any edit says "About the plan for …" with the right prompt
• [ ] Agent finishes mid-question: notification, Keep answering, Done
• [ ] Click the question's file: the right lines open, highlighted
• [ ] Gutter marks appear after answering, follow edits, hide with the setting
• [ ] Saved questions appear under Your progress; Open the code works
• [ ] Review staged changes: questions appear, End review stops it; nothing staged says so
• [ ] Status bar text and click, with and without a session
• [ ] An older hyperfocus (0.6) shows the update message