Kraft for VS Code

A local orchestrator that takes your coding agent from spec to pull request, stopping only when a decision is yours.

Kraft isn't another coding agent. It runs the one you already use (Claude Code, Codex and others), and adds what a single session can't: a process the agent can't skip, checks it doesn't grade itself on, and a person at the decisions that matter.

This extension brings those decisions into the editor. See what every work item is doing, approve or reject a gate, review a branch's diff with the review agents' findings on the lines they name, and edit Kraft's config with errors flagged as you type.

Get started

1. Install Kraft:

   uv tool install kraft-sdlc
   

   or with Homebrew: brew tap itsOmidKarami/kraft && brew install kraft. The Install page covers the other ways.

2. Start it: run kraft.

3. Open VS Code. The extension finds the running Kraft on its own: it reads KRAFT_HOST and KRAFT_PORT, then bind and port from $KRAFT_HOME/templates/access.yaml, and falls back to 127.0.0.1:8765. Set kraft.url only when Kraft listens somewhere else.

If Kraft isn't running, the board shows Kraft isn't running — Start, which runs kraft admin start in a terminal.

Board

The Kraft view in the activity bar lists every work item, grouped as in the web UI, with a badge counting the ones waiting on you. It shows the repos open in the window; the filter button shows every repo. Right-click an item to pause, resume, retry, skip, escalate, cancel or archive it, open its worktree in a new window, or open it in the web UI.

Gates

When a gate opens, a notification offers Open, Approve and Reject. Open shows the gate's document in a tab, with Approve and Reject in its title bar. A reject asks for a reason, which goes to the agent.

Review

Run Review Changes from an item's menu on the board, or from a gate document's title bar, to open its branch in the multi-file diff editor. Findings from the review agents show on the lines they name, as a colored bar with the message beside the line, and in the Problems panel. Comment on any line, then run Submit Review: your comments reach the agent as one note, as a reject at a gate or as a steer on a paused item. Approving instead asks before it discards your comments.

Config

Kraft's config files under $KRAFT_HOME/templates (policy.yaml, harnesses.yaml, chains/*.yaml and the rest) are checked by the running Kraft as you edit, with the line at fault flagged. With Red Hat YAML installed they also get completion from Kraft's JSON Schemas. On a chain file, Show Resolved Chain previews the chain after inheritance. On save, the extension offers to reload Kraft, or to restart it for files Kraft reads only at startup.

Requirements

• Kraft running on the same machine (kraft, or kraft admin start). The extension and Kraft must be on the same release line: if Kraft's version does not match, the extension turns read-only, and the board still updates while every action is disabled.
• Red Hat YAML for completion in config files. The extension offers it once if it is missing.

Settings

• kraft.url: where Kraft listens. Empty reads KRAFT_HOST and KRAFT_PORT, then bind and port from $KRAFT_HOME/templates/access.yaml.
• kraft.notifications: all, gates or off, which states raise a notification. gates announces only gates; all also announces an item that stopped and needs you.

Learn more

• Kraft for VS Code, the guide to this extension
• Why Kraft: what it does that a session, a loop or a skill does not
• Documentation
• GitHub: source, releases and issues