Kaitoi Code for VS Code

Kaitoi Code in a VS Code panel: the coding agent that also makes the media your app needs, on one bill. Ask in the chat, watch the reply stream in, see each tool call as it runs, review every change in VS Code's diff editor, and approve or deny it with a button.

The extension is a thin client. Kaitoi Code itself (its model choice, tools, permission rules and sessions) runs in the Kaitoi CLI on your machine, the same kaitoi code you use in a terminal. A session started here can be resumed in the terminal with kaitoi code --resume.

Requirements

VS Code 1.95 or later.
The Kaitoi CLI, with editor support (kaitoi code acp). Install it from kaitoi.io. If yours is older, the chat says so: run kaitoi update.
A Kaitoi account for hosted models, or a local model server such as Ollama, LM Studio or vLLM to use Kaitoi Code without one. Hosted usage is billed at provider cost to your Kaitoi account; local models are not billed.
A trusted workspace. Kaitoi Code reads and edits the files of the open folder, so the extension does not run in Restricted Mode.

Getting started

Open a folder and trust it.
Click the Kaitoi Code icon in the activity bar. The chat starts Kaitoi Code and a session in the folder.
Type a request and press Enter (Shift+Enter adds a line).

If you are not signed in, the chat offers Sign In, which opens your browser to log in to Kaitoi. To work with a local model instead, set Kaitoi Code: Provider to local:ollama (or another local provider) and Kaitoi Code: Model to a model you have pulled, then start a new session.

In the chat

Replies stream as Markdown. The model's thinking, when it shares it, is folded under Thinking.
Tool calls show what Kaitoi Code is doing (reading, searching, editing, running a command) and whether it worked.
Permission questions appear as buttons: Allow, Allow for this session (where Kaitoi Code offers it) and Deny. When a question is about a change to a file, the change opens in the diff editor beside the chat, titled <file> (Kaitoi Code), before you answer. Every finished edit has a View changes link.
Mode: Plan reads and answers without changing anything, Build reads, edits and runs with your approval, Crew hands the work to a Crew run (needs a Kaitoi login).
Stop ends the running turn; open questions are withdrawn.

Kaitoi Code asks a folder's trust before it touches files. In VS Code that answer comes from the workspace trust you already gave, and the chat says so.

Commands

Command	What it does
Kaitoi Code: New Session	Starts a new session with an empty chat.
Kaitoi Code: Send Selection	Adds the selected text, with its file and lines, to your next message. Also in the editor's context menu.
Kaitoi Code: Cancel	Stops the running turn.
Kaitoi Code: Sign In	Logs in to Kaitoi in your browser.

Settings

Setting	Default	What it does
`kaitoiCode.executablePath`	`kaitoi`	The Kaitoi CLI to run. A name is looked up on your PATH (`kaitoi.exe` on Windows); a full path is used as it is. User settings only.
`kaitoiCode.provider`	empty	Provider for new sessions, such as `local:ollama`. Empty uses your saved default.
`kaitoiCode.model`	empty	Model for new sessions. Empty uses the provider's default.
`kaitoiCode.mode`	`build`	The mode a new session starts in: `plan`, `build` or `crew`.
`kaitoiCode.permissionModal`	`false`	Also ask each permission question in a dialog. Closing the dialog denies the request.

Changes to the CLI, provider and model apply from the next new session.

When something goes wrong

Kaitoi Code needs the Kaitoi CLI: install it, or set kaitoiCode.executablePath to where it is.
This Kaitoi CLI does not support editor integration yet: run kaitoi update.
Kaitoi Code stopped: the chat says why and starts it again, keeping the conversation. If it keeps stopping, the chat offers Restart and Show Log. The log is the Kaitoi Code output channel.

Privacy and security

The extension runs only in trusted workspaces, starts the CLI without a shell, and talks to it over standard input and output. It opens no network port.
Every change on your machine goes through Kaitoi Code's permission rules and your answer. Closing a permission dialog denies the request.
The chat page loads nothing from the internet and shows the model's text as text, never as HTML. Web links open in your browser only when you click them; other kinds of links are not opened.

Building from source

Node.js 22 or later.

npm ci
npm test            # unit tests, then the integration tests in your installed VS Code
npm run package     # kaitoi-code-<version>.vsix

npm test uses the VS Code installed on this machine and does not download one; set KAITOI_VSCODE_EXECUTABLE to point it at a particular build. Each run uses a temporary profile, so your own settings are not touched. The integration tests run on macOS and Linux; the unit tests run anywhere.

Licence

Apache License 2.0. See LICENSE, and THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md for the software the package includes.

Kaitoi Code

Kaitoi Labs