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 a chat panel and session list in your editor.
Features
Session list in the Activity Bar — every octo session for the current workspace, with the active one marked.
Chat panel beside your editor — opens to the side (like a normal editor tab), not squeezed into the sidebar.
Automatic context — the file you currently have open (or your selection, plus any diagnostics on it) is attached to your next message automatically. Attach additional files with the @ file button.
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 in the panel.
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
Install the extension and install octo if you haven't already.
Click the octo icon in the Activity Bar.
Click New Session (or open an existing session from the list).
Type a message. Whatever file you have open is sent along as context automatically.
Settings
Setting
Default
Description
octo.host
127.0.0.1
Host octo serve binds to.
octo.port
8088
Port octo serve listens on.
octo.accessKey
(empty)
Access key for a non-loopback octo serve. Not needed for the default local connection.
octo.autoStart
true
Spawn octo serve -d automatically when no server is found at octo.host:octo.port.
octo.binaryPath
octo
Path to the octo binary, or a bare name resolved from PATH and common install locations.
