Switchboard for VS Code

Send what you're looking at in VS Code to a Switchboard session: the open file, the selected lines, several files from the Explorer, problems, terminal output and changed files. It arrives as chips in the session's message box. Nothing is sent to Claude until you add your question and press ⌘↵ in Switchboard.

This is a companion, not a chat. Claude Code's own extension stays the chat inside VS Code; Switchboard is where you manage your sessions and talk to them.

Requirements

Switchboard 0.0.13 or later, on the same Mac.
VS Code 1.95 or later (or Cursor, Windsurf, VSCodium).

What you can send

From VS Code	Arrives in Switchboard as
Selected lines (⌥⇧K, or right-click in the editor)	`auth.ts:12-40`, a reference Claude reads itself
The active file (nothing selected)	`auth.ts`
Files and folders in the Explorer (several at once)	one chip each
Open editors, all or one tab group	one chip per file
Problems in a file or the whole workspace	the errors and warnings, as text
Selected terminal output (⌥⇧K in the terminal, or right-click)	the output, as text
Files in Source Control	the changed files

Files go as references (a path and its lines), so a large selection stays small. Two things go as text instead: a selection in a file with unsaved changes (Claude would read the old version on disk), and things that aren't files, such as problems and terminal output.

Which session

The session you have open in Switchboard, when its folder holds the file.
Otherwise a list of Switchboard's sessions for this workspace, with what each is doing, plus New session.
New session opens Switchboard's New session on that folder, with the chips already in it.

If Switchboard isn't running, the extension opens it first.

Status bar

Switchboard: 1 needs you in the status bar says a session in this workspace waits for a permission or an answer. Click it to go to that session in Switchboard. Otherwise it says how many are working; click it for the list of sessions.

What stays private

The extension never sends the text of a file you keep from Claude: files matched by files.exclude or search.exclude, files git ignores, and files Claude Code's settings deny reading (Read(…) rules in permissions.deny). For those, only the reference goes, and Claude Code applies its own rules when it reads the file.

The connection is a socket only your user account can open, with a token Switchboard writes to a file only you can read.

Settings

Setting	What it does
`switchboard.bringToFront`	Bring Switchboard to the front on the session when you add something (on by default). Turn it off to add context quietly.
`switchboard.statusBar`	Show the status bar item (on by default).
`switchboard.editorTitleButton`	A button in the editor title bar that adds the selection or the file (off by default).
`switchboard.appDataFolder`	Where Switchboard keeps its data, for a build started with `SWITCHBOARD_DATA_DIR`.

Commands

All under Switchboard: in the command palette: Add Selection to Switchboard, Add to Switchboard, Add Open Editors, Add Editors in This Group, Add Problems in This File, Add Problems in the Workspace, Add Terminal Selection, Add Changes, Show Sessions and Reconnect.

License

MIT

How the connection works, and the message format: docs/vscode-companion.md.

Switchboard Companion

Elio Struyf