⚠️ DEPRECATED: This extension has been renamed and expanded. To get the latest updates, please uninstall this extension and install the new Vertex AI Models Chat Provider.

Vertex AI Models Chat Provider for VS Code

Native Gemini & Claude, powered by Vertex AI.

Experience enterprise-grade AI directly within the standard VS Code Chat panel.

This extension registers Google Gemini and Anthropic Claude as first-class providers—no separate UI, no extra windows, no friction.

• 🔒 Zero API Keys — Securely uses your native Google Cloud identity.
• 🏢 Automatic Billing — Costs follow your project settings as you switch workspaces.
• ⚡ Native Integration — First-class support for Gemini 3 and Claude within Copilot Chat.
• 📊 Cost Transparency — Real-time session tracking and interactive usage dashboard.

☁️ Google Cloud Prerequisites

⚠️ Important: Before using this extension, ensure your Google Cloud project is properly configured to avoid authentication or permission errors.

1. Enable APIs: Enable the Vertex AI API (aiplatform.googleapis.com) in the Cloud Console (Docs).
2. IAM Roles: Your account requires the Vertex AI User (roles/aiplatform.user) role (Docs).
3. Model Access: For Anthropic Claude models, find them in the Vertex AI Model Garden and click Enable (Docs).

🚀 Quick Start

1. Install: Find Vertex AI Models Chat Provider in the VS Code Marketplace and click Install.

2. Authenticate: Ensure you have the Google Cloud SDK installed and run:

   gcloud auth application-default login
   

3. Configure: Open VS Code Settings (Ctrl+,) and set your GCP Project ID in vertexAiChat.projectId.

4. Chat: Open the Chat panel (Ctrl+Shift+I) and select a Vertex model from the picker.

🌟 Why Project-Based Authentication?

This extension uses your GCP Project ID and Application Default Credentials (ADC) instead of traditional API keys. This approach offers several professional advantages:

• 🔒 Secure by Design: Credentials stay in your system's secure store via gcloud. There are no sensitive API keys to paste, store in plain text, or rotate manually.
• 🏢 Automatic Billing Switching: By setting the Project ID in your workspace's .vscode/settings.json, billing for LLM usage automatically switches as you move between different client or internal projects.
• 📈 Centralized Governance: Organization admins can manage model access and quotas centrally through the Google Cloud Console, which automatically applies to all developers using that Project ID.
• ⚡ Consistent Performance: Leveraging your own GCP project quotas ensures you aren't sharing rate limits with other users on a global API key.

✨ Key Features

• 🧠 Advanced Gemini Support: Full support for Gemini 3 Flash & Pro, including "High Thinking" modes with thought block rendering and signature preservation.

• ⚡ Anthropic Performance: Native support for Claude Opus, Sonnet, and Haiku, featuring automated Prompt Caching (Ephemeral) to reduce latency and costs for long conversations.

• 🔑 Actionable Auth: Improved detection of expired credentials with a one-click "Login with gcloud" fix directly from VS Code.

• 🪄 AI Commit Messages: Generate professional, conventional commit messages from staged Git changes with one click from the Source Control view.

• 📊 Local Usage Dashboard and Real Time Costs Estimation: An interactive, ECharts-powered dashboard to track your individual costs, token consumption, and payload metrics—all stored locally and updated in real time.

• 🔍 Smart Discovery: Automatically probes regional endpoints (global, us-east5, europe-west1, asia-southeast1) to find and register only the models available in your specific GCP project.

• 👁️ Multimodal Vision: Paste images directly into chat for analysis by vision-capable models like Claude 4.6 and Gemini 3.

• 🛠️ Tool Calling: Support for streaming parallel tool execution, enabling models to interact with VS Code agents and external tools.

🤖 Supported Models

⚙️ Configuration

📂 Diagnostics & Logs

For detailed request/response mapping and troubleshooting:

1. Open the Output panel (Ctrl+Shift+U).
2. Select Vertex AI Models Chat Provider from the dropdown.
3. View region probing results, token usage metadata, and raw API transformations.

🛠️ Installation from Source

If you prefer to build the extension manually:

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/jorsm/vertex-anthropic.git
   

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install
   

3. Compile and launch:

   • Press F5 in VS Code to launch the Extension Development Host.
   • Or run npm run compile to build the TypeScript source.

📜 License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.