Apollo AI for VS Code

An AI coding agent for your VS Code workspace. Ask in plain words: Apollo reads your code, makes the change, runs your build and tests, and shows you the result — in as many chats at once as you like.

You need an Apollo account to use this extension. Apollo accounts are issued by Howell Technologies and by the companies that use Apollo; there is no sign-up inside the extension. Sign in with the same username and password you use for the Apollo web app. Without an account, nothing in the extension works.

Features

Chat that does the work

• Every chat is its own editor tab. Open several, close a tab and the chat keeps working; reopen it from Chats in the side bar.
• Apollo reads, searches, edits, creates, renames and deletes files in every folder open in the window.
• It runs your builds, tests, type checks, linters and scripts, with live output and a Stop on each, and checks the editor's Problems after each change to fix errors it caused.
• Type your next message while it works: messages wait in a queue and are sent in order. Stop (or Esc) pauses a reply, Resume carries on.
• Chats are saved to your account, so they are also in the Apollo web app. Open earlier ones with /history.

Every change in front of you

• Every change appears in the chat with its diff, and in Source Control.
• /undo reverses the last reply's changes; the editor's own Undo works on each edit.
• Choose how much it may do on its own (see Modes): edit straight away, ask before each edit, plan only, or Auto mode.

Plans, to-dos and several agents at once

• Ask it to plan first ("plan this out", or /plan) and read, change, approve or set aside the plan before anything is touched.
• It keeps a live to-do list for work with several steps, and asks you a short question when a request could mean more than one thing.
• Large work can be split across several agents running at the same time. /workflows or the Agents pill opens the agent map: this chat on the left, its agents on the right with their time and tokens, background tasks below — click any card for its details and its Stop.

Your chats and your usage, in the side bar

• Chats in the side bar lists your open chats with what each is doing — working, done, or waiting for you — plus recent ones and your history.
• Usage shows tokens and cost for Today, the last 7 days and this Month, plus your allowance and when it resets.
• If a chat needs an answer while its tab is closed, a notification asks you.

And more

• Knows your project. Reads apollo.md (or AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md) from every open folder in every chat. /init writes apollo.md for a project: how to install, run, test and build it, and its conventions.
• Your running app. Starts your dev server, takes screenshots of the running app and reads its browser console to check its work.
• Files and pictures. Name a file with @, send the selection or the open file from the right-click menu, or press Alt+K to mention the selection. Attach up to 4 pictures per message (PNG, JPEG, GIF or WebP, up to 4 MB each) for models that can see images.
• Projects from the web app. In an Apollo project, tick files, choose Share ▸ Open in VS Code, and they open here in a new chat in that project. See Opening project files from the web app.
• Web lookup and pictures, where your company has them turned on.
• Tools from your other extensions and MCP servers. Apollo asks before each use, except in Auto mode.
• Models and effort. Choose from the models your company offers, and an effort of Low, Medium, High or Max.
• Workspace: VS Code or Computer. The Workspace menu beside + chooses what Apollo can reach: only the folders open in VS Code (the default), or every file on this computer. With Computer, deleting or moving a file outside your open folders, and changing anything in the system's own folders, always asks you first, and keys, saved passwords and other sign-in secrets are never read.

Getting started

Requirements: VS Code 1.90 or later on Windows, macOS or Linux, and an Apollo account with coding turned on.

1. Install Apollo AI from the Marketplace (Extensions view ▸ search Apollo AI ▸ Install).
2. Sign in. Click the Apollo icon in the activity bar, then Sign In. Use the same username and password as the Apollo web app.
3. Open your project with File ▸ Open Folder, or File ▸ Add Folder to Workspace to work on several at once.
4. Start a chat with New Chat in the side bar, the Apollo button at the top right of an editor, or Cmd+Shift+Esc (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Esc on Windows and Linux).

Optional: run /init in a chat to write apollo.md with your project's commands and conventions. Every new chat reads it.

If your company handed you the extension as a .vsix file instead, install it with Extensions ▸ … ▸ Install from VSIX…. That copy looks for new versions itself; a copy from the Marketplace is kept up to date by VS Code.

Modes

Choose a mode from the pill at the bottom left of the chat. Shift+Tab switches between the first three.

"The project's checks" means its own test, type-check, lint and build scripts, such as npm test, tsc --noEmit, pytest and go test. Outside Auto mode, a command that looks destructive always asks. In Auto mode, only the most dangerous ones (such as a delete aimed at your home folder, dropping a database, or running a script downloaded from the internet) ask first, and they run only when you choose Yes.

Slash commands

Type / in the chat box.

A command typed while a reply is running does not stop it: /plan, /effort, /model, /new, /copy, /export, /history, /workflows and /help take effect at once; /compact, /undo and /init wait for the reply to finish, and say so.

Keyboard shortcuts

Commands

From the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P / Ctrl+Shift+P):

Opening project files from the web app

In a project in the Apollo web app, tick one or more files, press the Share circle beside Export, and choose Open in VS Code. VS Code opens (your browser, and then VS Code, may ask you to allow it first) with a new chat in that project, each file attached above an empty box. Type your question; the files go with it.

• Up to 10 files at a time. Each is attached whole, up to 40,000 characters (120,000 for all of them together); a longer one is shortened and its chip says so. Pictures are attached as pictures, for models that can see them.
• You must be signed in here, as somebody the project belongs to or who has joined it. Signed out, you're offered Sign In first. A link to anybody else's project opens nothing.
• Nothing is copied into the link itself: it names the project and the files, and Apollo reads them from your account. The link looks like vscode://howell-technologies.enoch-vscode/attach?project=<project>&files=<file>,<file>.

Settings

What leaves your computer

Apollo is a client for your Apollo account. To answer you, it sends work to the Apollo service, which passes it on to the AI model your company chose. Specifically:

• Signing in sends your username and password to the Apollo service. The session it gets back is kept in VS Code's secret storage on this machine, never in settings. Sign Out removes it from this machine.
• Each request sends your message, the files and parts of files Apollo reads with its tools, anything you attach (files, the selection, pictures), the output of commands it runs, the editor's problems for files it changed, and screenshots it takes of your running app. A project chat also carries that project's shared notes.
• With Workspace set to Computer, the files Apollo reads can be anywhere on this computer, and they are sent the same way. Where sign-in secrets are kept (keys, cloud and Docker sign-ins, password stores, browsers' saved logins and cookies, and .env files outside your open folders) is never read.
• .env files read with Apollo's file tool have their values replaced (KEY=<set>) before anything is sent. A command's output is sent as the command printed it, so a command that prints a secret sends it — commands other than reads and your project's checks ask you first, unless you turned on Auto mode or apollo.autoRunCommands.
• Your chats are saved to your Apollo account, which is how they appear in the web app and in /history. The service records each request's token use for your usage figures and your company's billing.
• The session log is written on your machine, into apollo.md in the open folder: when each request was, who asked, what they asked, which files changed. If you commit that file, your teammates see it. Turn it off with apollo.sessionLog.
• Web lookups are made by the Apollo service's browser, not from your machine, and only where your company turned them on.
• The first screenshot may download a browser (about 100 MB) from Google's public Chrome for Testing downloads, if no Chrome or Edge is installed.
• A copy installed from a file reads a small version file from Howell Technologies' public download storage every half hour to find updates. A Marketplace copy does not.

The extension sends no analytics of its own. Howell Technologies' privacy policy: https://storage.googleapis.com/howell-enoch-downloads/legal/privacy.html.

FAQ

Do I need an API key? No. Sign in with your Apollo account and use the models your company offers.

Can I use it without an Apollo account? No. Apollo does nothing until you sign in with an Apollo account, and there is no sign-up inside the extension.

Will it change my files without asking? In Edit automatically (the default), yes. Every change is shown with its diff, appears in Source Control, and can be undone. To approve each change first, choose Ask before edits, or turn off apollo.autoApplyEdits.

Will it run commands on its own? Reads (ls, git status) and your project's own checks (tests, type check, lint, build) run without asking. Everything else asks first, unless you turn on apollo.autoRunCommands (destructive commands still ask) or choose Auto mode (only the most dangerous commands ask, and they run when you choose Yes).

Can I work on several projects at once? Yes. Add each folder with File ▸ Add Folder to Workspace. Apollo reads and edits in all of them, and asks which one you mean when a request could fit more than one.

Can I give the assistant a different name? Yes. Ask it in a chat, for example "call yourself Jarvis". The name is saved to your account, so it is the same in every chat and in the web app. To go back, ask for its original name.

How do I update? A Marketplace copy is updated by VS Code like any other extension. A copy installed from a file offers new versions itself; run Apollo: Check for Updates to look now. After an update, reload the window.

Troubleshooting