EngMock for VS Code

Take EngMock's AI mock coding interviews in your own editor, with your theme, keybindings and inline completion. The voice interview stays in your browser.

Preview. VS Code mode works for algorithm, object-oriented design and AI-assisted coding interviews on engmock.com. You need an EngMock account. An interview in VS Code uses the same credit, or the Unlimited plan, as one in the browser. See VS Code mode on engmock.com.

How it works

1. On engmock.com, set up an algorithms, object-oriented design or AI-assisted coding interview and choose VS Code as the editor.
2. On the interview page, click Open in VS Code. You can also run EngMock: Connect to an Interview… from the Command Palette and type the pairing code shown on the page.
3. EngMock creates a folder for the interview (in ~/EngMock unless you choose another place) and opens it. The question's files are already there.
4. Start the interview with Start interview in the EngMock panel or on the interview page, and keep that tab open: it carries the voice. What you type in VS Code reaches the interview page as you type, before you save.

During the interview

• Start, pause and resume from the EngMock panel (Start interview, Pause, Resume interview) or with EngMock: Start or Resume Interview and EngMock: Pause Interview…. After a pause from VS Code the interview page stays open, so you can resume from VS Code too. A browser tab that has had no click yet (for example one VS Code just opened) needs one click on the page before it can use your microphone: the page then asks you to click Start or Resume there.
• Run code: ⌥⌘↩ on macOS, Ctrl+Alt+Enter on Windows and Linux, or the ▶ button above the editor. Your code runs in the EngMock sandbox, the same as Run on the interview page, and the interviewer sees each run. Runs in your own terminal are not part of the interview.
• Start or stop talking in Manual speaking mode: ⌃⌥M on macOS, Ctrl+Alt+M elsewhere.
• Auto or Manual speaking: switch it under Speaking in the EngMock panel, or with EngMock: Switch Speaking Mode (Auto / Manual). It is the same switch as on the interview page.
• The EngMock panel shows the question, the time left, what the interviewer is doing, and your run results, with buttons for the actions below. In the interview's window it is also in the Explorer, as EngMock Interview under your files, so you can open files and still see it. Click EngMock in the status bar, which shows the time left too, to bring it up there, or use the EngMock icon in the activity bar. You can drag the panel elsewhere, for example to the Secondary Side Bar.
• Every EngMock command is in the Command Palette: press ⇧⌘P on macOS or Ctrl+Shift+P elsewhere, and type EngMock.
• Change language with Change language in the EngMock panel, or EngMock: Change Language…. An algorithm question keeps one file per language in the folder. A design question moves the files of the language you leave to .engmock/languages/<language> (unsaved changes are saved first) and brings them back when you switch back; a language you have not used yet starts from EngMock's files for it.
• Restore starter files: if you delete one of the question's files, the EngMock panel offers to bring it back (runs need them, for example main.py). EngMock: Restore Starter Files… can also reset every file to how the question started; your files are copied to .engmock first.
• Switch to the browser editor moves the interview to the editor on the interview page, with the code you have now, for the rest of the interview.

AI-assisted coding interviews

EngMock's coding assistant opens in its own column to the right of your code when the interview starts. The EngMock panel stays the interview's controls; Open the AI assistant there, the speech-bubble button above the editor, or EngMock: Open the AI Assistant brings the assistant back after you close it.

• The assistant reads the interview's files. Each request also sends the file you are working in and the lines you selected, shown as chips above the text box; remove a chip to leave it out. It cannot see the interview question, the rubric or the interviewer, and it does not edit your files.
• Copy on a code block in a reply copies the code. There is no Insert: what goes into your files is up to you.
• It is the same conversation as the assistant on the interview page: a request from either shows in both, and the interview's assistant limits apply to both together. The interview page sends your requests, so keep it open.
• This is the only AI that counts in an AI-assisted coding interview. Your use of AI is assessed from your conversation with it, together with your code, your runs and what you explain to the interviewer. AI you use anywhere else, such as Copilot or another chat assistant, is not visible to the interview and earns no credit.

Other AI tools

In algorithms and design interviews, inline completion from your editor, such as GitHub Copilot's suggestions, is allowed in VS Code mode; AI chat assistants and agents are not. Your interviewer and your report know you used your own editor, and the interviewer will ask you to explain your code as usual. In AI-assisted coding interviews, use EngMock's assistant (above).

What is sent

Only the interview's files, while the interview is open:

• Algorithm questions: the file for your language, such as main.py or Main.java. Other files in the folder stay on your computer.
• Design questions: files in the interview folder with these extensions: .c .cc .cpp .cs .go .h .hpp .java .js .json .kt .md .py .rs .ts .tsx .txt .yaml .yml.

Folders named .git, node_modules, .vscode, .idea, __pycache__ and .engmock are never sent. Files over the size or count limits are not sent either; the panel lists them.

The connection uses a token that works only for that interview. It is kept in VS Code's secret storage, not in the folder, and it stops working when the interview ends, when you switch to the browser editor, or when you disconnect.

Settings

Requirements

VS Code 1.90 or later, a browser for the interview page, and an EngMock account.

Support

Report a problem from Support on engmock.com while signed in.

License

Free to install and use with EngMock. The terms are in the extension's LICENSE.md.