VS Code Telegram Bridge

Control your entire VS Code environment remotely from Telegram — AI agents, terminal, files, tunnels, and screenshots — even when your dev machine is on a completely different network.

Built for developers who run code on a remote machine, desktop, or WSL environment and want full control from their phone.

Why This Exists

You're on your phone. Your dev machine is at home on a different network. You want to:

Check if Claude Code finished that refactor
Run a quick terminal command
See what's on screen
Expose a local port to share with someone
Send a new prompt to your AI agent

Without this extension, you'd need VPN, SSH, or RDP. With it — you just open Telegram.

How It Works

Your Phone (Telegram)  ←→  Telegram Bot API  ←→  VS Code Extension  ←→  Your Machine

The extension runs a Telegram bot inside VS Code. Every command you send from Telegram gets executed on your machine — terminal commands, AI agent prompts, screenshots, ngrok tunnels — and the output is sent back to you instantly.

Features

🤖 AI Agent Control

Command	Description
`/start_agent`	Start a session with the active agent (Claude Code or Copilot)
`/send <message>`	Send a prompt to the active agent session
`/sessions`	List all running agent sessions with interactive buttons
`/kill`	Show all sessions as buttons — tap to kill
`/kill <id>`	Kill a specific session by ID
`/output`	Get the last 20 lines of output from the active session
`/agent claude`	Switch active agent to Claude Code
`/agent copilot`	Switch active agent to GitHub Copilot

🔵 GitHub Copilot

Command	Description
`/copilot_open`	Open the Copilot Chat panel in VS Code
`/copilot_allow`	Approve a pending Copilot terminal permission request
`/copilot_deny`	Deny a pending Copilot terminal permission request

💻 Terminal

Command	Description
`/run <command>`	Execute any shell command, get output back in Telegram
`/cwd`	Show the current working directory

📁 Files & Workspace

Command	Description
`/file <path>`	Read a file and send its contents (inline or as document if large)
`/file <dir>`	List contents of a directory
Send any file to bot	Saves the file directly to your workspace root
`/tabs`	List all open editor tabs
`/chats`	Show open chat panels (Copilot, Continue, Cline, etc.) and editor tabs
`/context`	Show the currently active file and selected text

📸 Screenshot

Command	Description
`/screenshot`	Capture the full desktop and send as a photo

🌐 Network Tunnels

Command	Description
`/ngrok <port>`	Create a public ngrok tunnel to a local port, get the URL
`/ngrok_stop`	Close the active tunnel
`/ngrok_info`	Show the current tunnel URL and port

📊 Status

Command	Description
`/status`	Show bridge status, active agent, sessions, tunnel, workspace
`/help`	Show all available commands

Installation

Step 1 — Download the Extension

Go to the Releases page
Download the latest .vsix file (e.g. vscode-telegram-bridge-0.1.2.vsix)

Step 2 — Install in VS Code

Option A — Drag and drop Drag the .vsix file into the VS Code window. It installs automatically.

Option B — Command Palette

Open Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P)
Run Extensions: Install from VSIX...
Select the downloaded .vsix file

Option C — Terminal

code --install-extension vscode-telegram-bridge-0.1.2.vsix

Setup Guide

Step 1 — Create a Telegram Bot

Open Telegram and search for @BotFather
Send /newbot
Choose a name (e.g. My Dev Bridge) and a username (e.g. mydev_bridge_bot)
BotFather gives you a bot token — looks like 123456789:ABCdefGHI...
Copy and save it

Step 2 — Get Your Chat ID

Search for @userinfobot in Telegram
Send it /start
It replies with your numeric Chat ID (e.g. 987654321)
Copy it

Step 3 — Set Bot Commands (optional but recommended)

In BotFather, send /mybots → select your bot → Edit Bot → Edit Commands, then paste:

help - Show all commands
status - Bridge and agent status
start_agent - Start agent session
sessions - List all active sessions
send - Send message to active session
kill - Kill a session (shows buttons)
output - Last 20 lines from active session
agent - Switch active agent (claude/copilot)
screenshot - Take and send screenshot
run - Execute terminal command
cwd - Show working directory
file - Read file from workspace
chats - Open tabs and chat panels
tabs - List open editor tabs
context - Active editor file info
ngrok - Create ngrok tunnel
ngrok_stop - Close active tunnel
ngrok_info - Show current tunnel URL
copilot_allow - Approve Copilot terminal permission
copilot_deny - Deny Copilot terminal permission
copilot_open - Open Copilot Chat panel

This enables / autocomplete in the bot chat.

Step 4 — Configure Settings

Open VS Code Settings (Ctrl+,) and search telegramBridge, or add directly to settings.json:

{
  "telegramBridge.botToken": "YOUR_BOT_TOKEN",
  "telegramBridge.allowedChatId": "YOUR_CHAT_ID",
  "telegramBridge.autoStart": false,
  "telegramBridge.claudeCodePath": "claude",
  "telegramBridge.screenshotDelay": 500,
  "telegramBridge.ngrokAuthtoken": "YOUR_NGROK_TOKEN"
}

Setting	Required	Description
`botToken`	✅	Token from @BotFather
`allowedChatId`	✅	Your numeric Telegram Chat ID
`autoStart`	❌	Start bridge automatically when VS Code opens
`claudeCodePath`	❌	Path to `claude` CLI (default: `claude`)
`screenshotDelay`	❌	Milliseconds to wait before screenshot (default: `500`)
`ngrokAuthtoken`	❌	Required only if you use `/ngrok`

Step 5 — Start the Bridge

Open Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) → Telegram Bridge: Start Bot
Or set autoStart: true to start on every VS Code launch

You'll receive this message in Telegram:

✅ VS Code Telegram Bridge connected! Type /help for all commands.

The status bar at the bottom right shows 📡 TG Bridge when running.

Agent Setup

Claude Code

Install and authenticate the Claude CLI:

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
claude auth login

If claude isn't on your PATH, set the full path in settings:

"telegramBridge.claudeCodePath": "/home/youruser/.npm-global/bin/claude"

Then in Telegram:

/agent claude
/start_agent
/send Write a function to parse JSON safely

Output streams back to Telegram automatically as Claude responds.

GitHub Copilot

Make sure the GitHub Copilot Chat extension is installed in VS Code (GitHub.copilot-chat).

In Telegram:

/agent copilot
/start_agent
/send Refactor this function to use async/await

Terminal permissions: When Copilot wants to run terminal commands, VS Code shows a permission dialog. Use /copilot_allow from Telegram to approve it, or /screenshot to see the dialog then click manually.

ngrok Setup

ngrok requires a free account for all tunnels.

Sign up at dashboard.ngrok.com/signup
Get your authtoken from dashboard.ngrok.com/get-started/your-authtoken
Add it to VS Code settings: telegramBridge.ngrokAuthtoken

Then from Telegram:

/ngrok 3000

Response:

✅ Tunnel active!
🔗 https://abc123.ngrok.io
→ localhost:3000

File Operations

Read a file from your machine

/file src/index.ts

Files under 10KB → sent inline as code block
Files over 10KB → sent as downloadable document

Read a directory

/file src/components

Lists all files and folders.

Send a file to your machine

Just drop any file or photo into the Telegram chat with your bot. It gets saved to your workspace root automatically.

Interactive Buttons

/sessions and /kill use Telegram inline keyboards — no need to copy-paste session IDs.

/sessions shows:

🟣 Claude Code [#1](https://github.com/joshuadaniel8090/vscode-telegram-bridge/issues/1)   [✅ Active]  [🗑 Kill]
🔵 Copilot Chat     [▶ Set Active] [🗑 Kill]

/kill with no args shows:

🗑 Kill — 🟣 Claude Code [#1](https://github.com/joshuadaniel8090/vscode-telegram-bridge/issues/1) (active)
🗑 Kill — 🔵 Copilot Chat
❌ Cancel

Tap any button to act instantly.

WSL / Windows Notes

If VS Code runs on Windows but your terminal is WSL:

Screenshots capture the Windows desktop — shows VS Code correctly
Terminal commands (/run) execute in the WSL shell
Claude Code must be installed inside WSL
ngrok runs inside WSL and tunnels WSL-hosted ports

If claude is in WSL but not on Windows PATH, set:

"telegramBridge.claudeCodePath": "wsl claude"

Security

This extension gives full remote access to your machine. Keep it safe:

Chat ID whitelist — only your configured allowedChatId is processed. All other senders are silently ignored, including other Telegram accounts.
Never share your bot token — anyone with it can control your bridge.
Private bot only — don't add the bot to groups or channels while the bridge is running.
Bot token in settings — VS Code settings are stored locally. Don't commit settings.json with your token to version control.

Building from Source

Only needed if you want to modify the extension. For regular use, download the .vsix from Releases.

git clone https://github.com/joshuadaniel-8090/vs-remote
cd vscode-telegram-bridge
npm install
npm run compile
npx @vscode/vsce package

This produces a .vsix file you can install as described above.

Development mode (live reload):

Open the project folder in VS Code

Add .vscode/launch.json:

{
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "configurations": [
    {
      "name": "Run Extension",
      "type": "extensionHost",
      "request": "launch",
      "args": ["--extensionDevelopmentPath=${workspaceFolder}"],
      "outFiles": ["${workspaceFolder}/out/**/*.js"],
      "preLaunchTask": "${defaultBuildTask}"
    }
  ]
}

Press F5 — a second VS Code window opens with the extension loaded
Configure settings in that window → start the bridge → test in Telegram

Changes: save → TypeScript recompiles (watch mode) → Ctrl+R in the Extension Host window.

Project Structure

vscode-telegram-bridge/
├── src/
│   ├── extension.ts          Entry point — activation, commands, status bar
│   ├── bot.ts                Telegram polling, auth guard, command router
│   ├── handlers.ts           One handler function per command
│   ├── config.ts             VS Code settings reader and validator
│   ├── logger.ts             Timestamped logging to Output Channel
│   ├── ngrok.ts              ngrok tunnel lifecycle
│   ├── screenshot.ts         Desktop capture utility
│   ├── terminal.ts           Shell command executor with output streaming
│   └── agents/
│       ├── claudeCode.ts     Claude CLI subprocess manager
│       ├── copilot.ts        VS Code Copilot Chat command wrappers
│       └── sessionManager.ts Unified session registry for all agents
├── out/                      Compiled JavaScript (generated)
├── package.json
├── tsconfig.json
└── README.md

Roadmap

[ ] Git commands — /git status, /git log, /git push, /git diff
[ ] Scheduled commands — /schedule <cron> <command>
[ ] File change watchers — notify on save, build output, log tails
[ ] More agent adapters — Aider, Gemini CLI, Continue, Cline, Roo Code
[ ] Multi-agent fan-out — send same prompt to all agents, compare responses
[ ] Token and cost tracking per agent session
[ ] Inline confirm/reject buttons for destructive operations
[ ] Activity bar panel with live bridge status

License

MIT — see LICENSE

VS Code Telegram Bridge

Joshua Daniel

VS Code Telegram Bridge

Why This Exists

How It Works

Features

🤖 AI Agent Control

🔵 GitHub Copilot

💻 Terminal

📁 Files & Workspace

📸 Screenshot

🌐 Network Tunnels

📊 Status

Installation

Step 1 — Download the Extension

Step 2 — Install in VS Code

Setup Guide

Step 1 — Create a Telegram Bot

Step 2 — Get Your Chat ID

Step 3 — Set Bot Commands (optional but recommended)

Step 4 — Configure Settings

Step 5 — Start the Bridge

Agent Setup

Claude Code

GitHub Copilot

ngrok Setup

File Operations

Read a file from your machine

Read a directory

Send a file to your machine

Interactive Buttons

WSL / Windows Notes

Security

Building from Source

Project Structure

Roadmap

License