octo for VS Code

Chat with octo — the open-source, MIT-licensed, self-hosted AI coding agent — right inside VS Code.

This extension is a thin client: it connects to a local octo serve process over WebSocket and REST. All the actual agent work (LLM calls, tool execution, session state) happens in octo serve; the extension just gives you the chat and your session list in your editor.

Features

• Chat on the right, sessions on the left — the conversation lives in the Secondary Side Bar, beside your code rather than on top of it, while the session list keeps the Activity Bar. (On VS Code older than 1.106, which has no container slot on the right, the chat falls back to the Activity Bar under the list.)
• Your workspace is the project — the first session in a folder creates (or joins) an octo project that mounts it, so the agent's tools, memory and .octorules are scoped to the code you're actually looking at.
• Session list — every session in this workspace's project, newest first, badged when one is waiting on you; rename or delete from the list.
• Session header — which session you're in, how full its context window is, and what permission mode its tools run under.
• Task checklist — the agent's plan, pinned above the composer and ticked off as it goes.
• Reasoning, folded away — the thinking trace sits collapsed above the reply it belongs to.
• Slash commands — type / for octo's built-ins (/clear, /compact, /reload, /goal, /loop) and your installed skills.
• Automatic context, by reference — the file you have open rides along with your next message as a path, not as a pasted copy: the workspace is mounted into the session's project, so the agent reads what it actually needs. A selection is the exception — the lines themselves go along, with their diagnostics. Attach more files with the attach button, or paste an image straight into the composer.
• Native diff view — file edits the agent makes open in VS Code's own diff viewer, not a text dump in the chat.
• Permission and question prompts — confirmations and clarifying questions from the agent show up as native-feeling modals.
• Auto-starts octo serve — if nothing is listening on the configured host/port, the extension spawns octo serve -d for you.

Requirements

• The octo binary installed and on your PATH (or point octo.binaryPath at it).
• If you'd rather manage the server yourself, start octo serve before opening VS Code and the extension will attach to it instead of spawning a new one.

Getting started

1. Install the extension and install octo if you haven't already.
2. Click the octo icon in the Activity Bar.
3. Click New Session (or open an existing session from the list).
4. Type a message. Whatever file you have open is sent along as context automatically.

Settings

License

MIT — see LICENSE.txt.