Clawd Code
A clean, documented, ground-up reimplementation of the Claude Code VS Code extension.
Clawd Code drives the real claude CLI behind a
from-scratch webview UI — same underlying agent, independent implementation of everything
above it. Built as a readable reference for how a Claude Code–style editor integration works,
and as a usable extension in its own right.
Features
- Chat with Claude directly in the editor — ask questions, request changes, or get help
understanding your code, with full access to read files, make edits, and run terminal
commands in your workspace.
@ file mentions to pull specific files or folders into context, plus the ability to
highlight a selection and ask about it directly.- Session management — conversations are saved automatically; browse past sessions, resume
where you left off, and organize sessions into named groups via the sidebar.
- Diff review — proposed edits render as an inline diff you can accept or reject before
they land.
- Run-in-terminal — shell commands Claude suggests in a code block get a one-click Run
button, with output streamed back into the conversation.
- Focus View — collapse routine tool-call activity into an expandable per-turn summary, so
a busy session reads as a clean narrative instead of a wall of tool calls.
- Drop-in command compatibility — when the official Anthropic extension isn't installed,
Clawd Code answers its command IDs and keybindings too, so existing muscle memory and saved
workflows keep working.
Requirements
- VS Code 1.94.0 or later.
- A Claude Code account. The
claude CLI binary is
downloaded automatically on first run — nothing to install manually.
Getting Started
- Install the extension.
- Click the Clawd Code icon in the editor toolbar, or run Clawd Code: Open from the Command
Palette.
- Sign in when prompted, then start chatting.
The built-in walkthrough (Help → Get Started → Clawd Code) covers the basics interactively.
Why a reimplementation?
Clawd Code exists as a clean, from-scratch counterpart to the official extension — independently
built, openly documented, and free to diverge or experiment where the official extension can't.
It's designed to coexist peacefully: install both, and Clawd Code detects the official extension
and steps out of its way rather than fighting over command IDs.
Development
git clone https://github.com/joeblackwaslike/cc-vscode-ext.git
cd cc-vscode-ext
npm install
npm run build
Press F5 in VS Code to launch an Extension Development Host. See
docs/ for architecture notes,
and open an issue or PR — contributions welcome.
License
MIT © Joe Black
