Claude Code for Visual Studio
Run Claude Code inside Visual Studio. Claude sees what Visual Studio sees - your selection, open files, compiler errors, the debugger - and proposes changes as diffs you approve. It runs entirely on your machine and uses your own Claude subscription.
Independent / community project. Not officially affiliated with Anthropic or Microsoft. "Claude Code", "Anthropic" and "Visual Studio" are trademarks of their respective owners.
Why this one
- It knows your actual solution. Not the file system - the solution you have open: its compiler errors, its symbols (Roslyn), its debugger. Diagnostics, build, tests, breakpoints and symbol navigation are all on the table.
- You decide before anything runs. Every editing or shell tool call is graded for risk (low / medium / high) and shown with its real arguments - an edit as a diff, a command on a prompt line. Allow, deny, or allow it for the session. A permission floor no mode lifts blocks destructive commands and reads of secrets (.env, keys), enforced by the CLI itself.
- Claude never writes your buffer. A change arrives as a diff you save to accept or close to reject. You stay the only writer of record. Undo turn rolls a whole turn back.
- An agentic panel drives Claude Code headlessly in your solution's folder: streaming markdown, tool chips, subagents, a live task list, and per-turn token and cost. Slash commands, @ file mentions, image attachments and dictation are built in.
- Yours, and quiet. No model of its own, no API key, no telemetry. Two assemblies, no third-party dependencies. Listens only on 127.0.0.1.
Getting started
- Install the extension (Visual Studio 2022 or 2026).
- Install the
claude CLI and sign in with your own subscription.
- Open a solution, then Tools > Claude Code (nLabtech) > Open Claude Panel - it connects to the IDE and wires every tool automatically.
Prefer a terminal? Run claude, then /ide and pick Visual Studio for diagnostics and diffs; the Restart Local Bridge dialog prints one claude mcp add line for the full toolset.
Requirements
Visual Studio 2022 or 2026, and the claude CLI on your PATH, signed in with your own Claude account. This extension provides no model access of its own.
Early stage, developed in public. Try it before relying on it in production.
Source and issues: https://github.com/nlabtech/nlabs-claude-code-vs-package
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