OmniRoute for GitHub Copilot Chat
1200+ AI models in your Copilot Chat — free & forever free.
340+ providers, 90+ with free tiers, one endpoint. MIT open source.
🌐 OmniRoute on GitHub •
🔌 Extension source •
🐛 Issues
Don't replace Copilot — power it up. No new sidebar to learn, no new chat UI. This extension drops every model from your OmniRoute server — Kimi, Claude, GPT, Gemini, GLM, DeepSeek, Qwen, Llama and hundreds more across 340+ providers, 90+ of them with free tiers that stay free — straight into the model picker of the Copilot Chat you already use. Including VS Code Insiders.
🆓 No Copilot subscription required. Since VS Code 1.122, provider models work without a GitHub sign-in and without any Copilot plan. VS Code + OmniRoute + this extension = a fully working AI chat with agent mode, for free.
Why this extension?
- 1200+ models, one picker. OmniRoute unifies 340+ providers (OpenAI-compatible, Anthropic, Gemini, Ollama, local, OAuth-based free tiers…) behind a single endpoint — 90+ providers are free, and free forever. Every model it serves shows up in your Copilot Chat model dropdown.
- Agent mode, tool calling, MCP, instructions — all of it still works. This plugs into VS Code's native language-model provider API, so Copilot's entire stack now runs on the model you choose.
- Vision included. Models flagged as vision-capable in the OmniRoute catalog accept image attachments directly in chat.
- Combos & auto-fallback. OmniRoute combos (priority, round-robin, cost-optimized, fusion…) appear as regular models — pick one and get automatic failover across providers behind the scenes.
- Online at a glance. A status-bar dot and an Activity Bar panel show whether your OmniRoute server is reachable, how many models it serves, and where to configure everything — URL and API key included.
- Speaks your language. The UI ships in 42 languages, mirroring OmniRoute's own catalog — VS Code picks the one matching your display language automatically.
- Configure your other tools too. One command configures Codex CLI, Claude Code, Cline, Continue, Cursor, Aider and more to use OmniRoute — powered by the
omniroute CLI under the hood.
- Secure by default. The API key lives in VS Code's SecretStorage (OS keychain), never in
settings.json.
Getting started
1. Run OmniRoute (60 seconds)
npm install -g omniroute
omniroute # dashboard at http://localhost:20128
Add your providers/keys in the dashboard — or use the built-in free ones. Full guide: github.com/diegosouzapw/OmniRoute.
Already running OmniRoute somewhere else (home server, VPS, tunnel)? Point the extension at it — see below.
2. Install this extension
Search for "OmniRoute" in the VS Code Extensions view, or grab the .vsix from the releases.
3. Pick a model
- Open Copilot Chat and click the model picker
- Choose Manage Models… → OmniRoute
- Tick the models you want — they now live in your picker
That's it. If OmniRoute runs on the default http://localhost:20128, there is nothing to configure.
Remote server / API key
Click the OmniRoute icon in the Activity Bar (or run OmniRoute: Manage Connection, or click the status-bar dot) to open the connection panel:
- Server URL — e.g.
http://my-vps:20128 (the /v1 suffix is added automatically)
- API key — only if your OmniRoute requires one (
REQUIRE_API_KEY); stored in the OS keychain
- Save & Test — instant feedback with the live model count
Run OmniRoute: Configure Coding CLI and pick a tool — the extension drives the omniroute CLI to generate ready-to-use profiles:
| Tool |
What you get |
| Codex CLI |
codex --profile glm52 style profiles in ~/.codex |
| Claude Code |
omniroute launch --profile <name> launch profiles |
| Cline / Roo / Kilo |
Extension settings pointed at OmniRoute |
| Continue / Cursor / Aider / Goose / Crush / OpenCode / Qwen Code |
Tool-native config |
Settings
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
omnicopilot.baseUrl |
http://localhost:20128/v1 |
OmniRoute server (local or remote) |
omnicopilot.modelFilter |
(empty) |
Substring/regex to limit which models are listed |
omnicopilot.maxOutputTokens |
16384 |
Output budget reserved per response |
omnicopilot.defaultContextLength |
128000 |
Context assumed when the catalog omits it |
omnicopilot.statusBar |
true |
Show the connection dot |
omnicopilot.healthCheckIntervalSeconds |
30 |
Probe frequency |
omnicopilot.dashboardOpen |
external |
Open the dashboard in the browser or in a VS Code tab (editor) |
omnicopilot.cliPath |
omniroute |
Path to the OmniRoute CLI |
Good to know
- Chat, agent mode and utility tasks run through your OmniRoute models. Inline code completions and embeddings-based features are outside VS Code's provider API and still require GitHub Copilot.
- On Copilot Business/Enterprise, admins can disable third-party model providers via the "Bring Your Own Language Model Key" policy.
- Requires VS Code 1.104+ (older versions than 1.122 also need a signed-in Copilot plan — that's a VS Code rule, not ours).
Free & open source
OmniRoute is MIT-licensed and free forever — ⭐ star it on GitHub and join the project. This extension is MIT too; issues and PRs welcome at diegosouzapw/OmniCopilot.
OmniRoute is an independent open-source project, not affiliated with GitHub or Microsoft. GitHub Copilot is a trademark of GitHub, Inc.
