Desk for VS Code

A VS Code extension that keeps your bookmarks, docs, and team workflow config in one place — and exposes them to AI agents via a local MCP server.

Bookmark sidebar — flat list of bookmark cards per scope (workspace/global) with auto-fetched favicons.
.desk page viewer — an XML-based doc format that renders in a VS Code editor tab; each page opens in its own tab with zoom controls and a collapsible TOC sidebar. Pages can be grouped into books with chapter navigation.
Embedded MCP server — a local JSON-RPC 2.0 HTTP server (default port 3333) with 39 static tools, dynamic skill-defined tools, and 4 resources.
Workflow companion — stores team workflow config and a skill registry; AI agents submit config and skills via MCP; the extension installs them on all detected AI agents after user confirmation.

All data lives in ~/.desk/ — plain JSON files, human-readable, and easy to back up.

Features

Status	Feature
✅	Sidebar panel with workspace/global scope toggle
✅	Bookmark cards with auto-fetched favicons (30-day cache)
✅	VS Code native theming — inherits your active color theme automatically
✅	`.desk` page viewer — multi-tab, zoom in/out/reset, collapsible TOC sidebar
✅	Books — group pages into chapters with in-viewer book navigation
✅	Embedded MCP server (39 static tools + dynamic skill tools, 4 resources)
✅	Workflow companion — team config + skill registry, auto-installed on detected AI agents
✅	Page libraries — auto-injected JS/CSS bundles (e.g. highlight.js)
✅	Worktree-aware workspace linking — linked git worktrees share data with the main worktree

Usage

Command Palette

Command	Description
`Desk: Add Bookmark`	Add a bookmark (favicon auto-fetched)
`Desk: Remove Bookmark`	Remove a bookmark
`Desk: Edit Bookmark`	Edit a bookmark's title or URL
`Desk: List Bookmarks`	Show all bookmarks in a QuickPick
`Desk: New Page`	Create a new `.desk` page
`Desk: Open Page`	Open an existing `.desk` page in the viewer
`Desk: Delete Page`	Delete a `.desk` page
`Desk: New Book`	Create a new book
`Desk: Open Book`	Open a book in the viewer
`Desk: Delete Book`	Delete a book
`Desk: Add Chapter`	Add a chapter to a book
`Desk: Rename Chapter`	Rename a book chapter
`Desk: Remove Chapter`	Remove a chapter from a book
`Desk: New Book Page`	Create a new page inside a book chapter
`Desk: Move Book Page`	Move a page between book chapters
`Desk: Zoom In`	Increase page viewer zoom
`Desk: Zoom Out`	Decrease page viewer zoom
`Desk: Reset Zoom`	Reset page viewer zoom to default
`Desk: Toggle TOC`	Show or hide the TOC sidebar in the page viewer
`Desk: Open URL`	Prompt for a URL and open it in VS Code Simple Browser
`Desk: Set Up Agent MCP Integration`	Re-run MCP setup on all installed agents
`Desk: Configure Workflow`	Manually set team workflow config fields
`Desk: Install Workflow Skills`	Install stored skills on all detected agents
`Desk: New Skill`	Open an untitled editor pre-filled with the skill frontmatter template
`Desk: Edit Skill`	Open an existing skill for editing
`Desk: Submit Skill`	Read the active editor and store/update the skill in the registry
`Desk: Remove Skill`	Remove a skill from the registry
`Desk: List Skills`	Show all installed skills in a QuickPick
`Desk: View Workflow Config`	Show the current workflow config in a QuickPick

MCP Server (for AI agents)

Add to your Claude Code settings (~/.claude/settings.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vscode-desk": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://127.0.0.1:3333/mcp"
    }
  }
}

39 static tools (plus dynamic tools generated from skill definitions):

Group	Tools
Bookmarks	`list_bookmarks`, `add_bookmark`, `remove_bookmark`, `update_bookmark`
Pages	`list_pages`, `create_page`, `update_page`, `delete_page`
Workflow	`get_workflow_config`, `submit_workflow_config`
Skills	`list_skills`, `get_skill`, `add_skill`, `remove_skill`
Page template	`get_page_template`, `set_page_template`
Libraries	`list_libraries`, `add_library`, `remove_library`
Sections	`list_sections`, `add_section`, `update_section`, `remove_section`
Lists	`list_items`, `add_list_item`, `remove_list_item`, `update_list_item`, `set_list_type`
Section types	`list_section_types`, `register_section_type`, `remove_section_type`
Books	`create_book`, `list_books`, `get_book`, `delete_book`, `add_chapter`, `rename_chapter`, `remove_chapter`, `move_page`

4 resources: desk://guide/quick-start, desk://guide/desk-page-format, desk://guide/skill-format, desk://workspace/current

`.desk` page format

<desk-page title="Page Title">
  <style>/* optional per-page CSS */</style>
  <!-- HTML body content -->
  <script>
    /* JS runs after DOM is ready — re-injected at bottom of <body>. */
    document.getElementById('my-btn').addEventListener('click', () => { ... });
  </script>
</desk-page>

Page files live in <workspace>/desk-pages/. Content is injected into a centred <div class="page-content"> wrapper (max-width 860px) — no outer layout CSS needed. Links to other .desk pages navigate within the viewer; https:// links open in the browser.

Skill format

---
name: dev-flow
description: >-
  One-line description used by agents to decide when to invoke.
triggers:
  - starting a new task
agents: all
version: 1
---

Skill body — plain markdown, works across all agents.
Call `get_workflow_config` at startup to read team-specific values.

Required fields: name (kebab-case), description. Optional: triggers, agents (all or [claude-code, cursor, gemini, codex]), version.

Configuration

Setting	Default	Description
`desk.mcpPort`	`3333`	Port for the embedded MCP HTTP server
`desk.pageViewer.defaultZoom`	`1.0`	Default zoom level (0.5–3.0)
`desk.pageViewer.tocCollapsed`	`false`	Start with the TOC sidebar collapsed
`desk.pageViewer.openLinksIn`	`"simpleBrowser"`	Where to open `https://` links: `simpleBrowser` or `externalBrowser`
`desk.pageViewer.singleTab`	`false`	Open all pages in one tab instead of separate tabs
`desk.skillTools.enabled`	`true`	Enable skill-defined MCP tools
`desk.skillTools.timeoutSeconds`	`30`	Timeout for skill tool commands
`desk.worktreeLinking.enabled`	`true`	Map linked git worktrees to the main worktree's data

Development

npm install
npm run compile          # production build (extension + webview)
npm run compile:ext      # extension host only
npm run compile:webview  # React webview only
npm run watch            # incremental dev build (extension host)
npm run watch:webview    # incremental dev build (React webview)
npm test                 # Jest unit tests (275 tests)
npm run test:e2e         # Playwright e2e tests (34 tests) — requires compile first
# Press F5 in VS Code to launch the Extension Development Host

Tests run automatically in CI on every pull request push.

Desk

mariosakka