VSCode Central Remote Configuration

CRC distributes AI coding assistant configurations to developers from a central remote server. The available tools and their configuration variants are declared in a server-side manifest — no extension update is needed to add or remove tools.

The extension replaces placeholders with a user-provided API key on every sync, and keeps configurations up to date automatically in the background.

User Guide

This section is for developers who install the extension and use it to keep their AI assistant configurations in sync.

Installation

1. Open VS Code and go to the Extensions panel (Ctrl+Shift+X / Cmd+Shift+X).
2. Search for central-remote-config.
3. Click Install.

Quick start

1. Open VS Code Settings (Ctrl+, / Cmd+,) and search for crc.
2. Set CRC: Remote End Point to the URL provided by your administrator.
3. Optionally set CRC: Api Key if your administrator requires one.
4. Open the Central Remote Config view in the Explorer sidebar.
5. Right-click a tool and select Enable — CRC syncs its configuration immediately.

Sidebar overview

The Central Remote Config sidebar shows one row per tool available in the remote manifest. Each row displays:

Right-clicking a tool opens a context menu with the following actions depending on state:

Enabling and disabling tools

Enable or disable tools from the sidebar context menu, or directly in settings.json:

"crc.tools": {
  "continue": { "enabled": true },
  "kilo":     { "enabled": true }
}

To disable a tool:

"crc.tools": {
  "kilo": { "enabled": false }
}

Selecting a configuration variant

Some tools offer multiple configuration variants (for example "Autocomplete only" vs "Full configuration"). To switch:

1. Right-click the tool in the sidebar.
2. Select Change configuration variant.
3. Pick a variant from the list — CRC syncs the new variant immediately.

The selected variant is stored in crc.tools.<id>.configuration.

Sync modes

CRC checks for remote configuration changes every 30 minutes. Two modes control what happens when a change is detected:

Change the mode via CRC Advanced: Sync Mode in Settings.

Auto-apply protection — in auto mode, if you have edited your local config after the last sync, CRC degrades to notify for that tool rather than silently overwriting your changes.

Settings reference

CRC

CRC Advanced

Where configuration files are written

CRC writes each tool's configuration to the path declared in the remote manifest. Typical locations:

Note: Windows native (non-WSL) is not currently supported.

Administrator Guide

This section is for teams that operate a CRC server and define the available tools and configuration variants.

How CRC constructs URLs

Given crc.remoteEndPoint = https://crc.example.com and crc.profile = default:

• Root manifest: https://crc.example.com/manifests/default/default.json
• Tool sub-manifest: URL declared in the root manifest's configManifest field, resolved relative to the endpoint
• Configuration file: <endpoint>/<serverPath>/<variant.filename>

CRC normalises the endpoint URL (adds a trailing slash if missing) before resolving relative paths.

Server directory layout

<endpoint>/
├── manifests/
│   ├── default/
│   │   ├── default.json              ← root manifest (lists tools)
│   │   ├── default-continue.json     ← per-tool variant manifest
│   │   └── default-kilocode.json
│   └── <profile>/
│       └── ...
└── tools_configuration/
    └── default/
        ├── continue/
        │   ├── continue-full.yaml
        │   └── continue-autocomplete.yaml
        └── kilocode/
            └── kilocode-full.jsonc

Root manifest

Served at <endpoint>/manifests/<profile>/<profile>.json. Declares all tools available in this profile.

{
  "name": "My team default",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "schema": "v1",
  "tools": [
    {
      "id": "continue",
      "name": "Continue",
      "extensionId": "Continue.continue",
      "localDirectory": ".continue",
      "localFilename": "config.yaml",
      "serverPath": "tools_configuration/default/continue/",
      "configManifest": "manifests/default/default-continue.json",
      "requiresReloadAfterSync": false
    },
    {
      "id": "kilo",
      "name": "Kilo Code",
      "extensionId": "kilocode.kilo-code",
      "localDirectory": ".config/kilo",
      "localFilename": "kilo.jsonc",
      "serverPath": "tools_configuration/default/kilocode/",
      "configManifest": "manifests/default/default-kilocode.json",
      "requiresReloadAfterSync": true
    }
  ]
}

Root manifest fields

Tool variant sub-manifest

Served at the URL declared in configManifest. Lists the configuration variants available for a tool.

{
  "name": "Continue variants",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "schema": "v1",
  "configurations": [
    { "id": "autocomplete", "name": "Autocomplete",       "filename": "continue-autocomplete.yaml" },
    { "id": "full",         "name": "Full configuration", "filename": "continue-full.yaml" }
  ]
}

Variant fields

Configuration files and API key substitution

CRC fetches the configuration file at <endpoint>/<serverPath>/<variant.filename> and writes it verbatim to the user's machine, substituting one placeholder before writing:

models:
  - name: my-model
    provider: openai
    apiBase: https://llm.example.com
    apiKey: __CRC_API_KEY__

Every occurrence of __CRC_API_KEY__ (configurable via crc.apiKeyPattern) is replaced with the value of crc.apiKey before the file is written. The pattern is a JavaScript regular expression — use a literal string for simple placeholders.

CRC treats fetched files as opaque text — it does not parse YAML or JSONC. Any valid text format works.

Manifest caching

CRC caches the root manifest and all tool sub-manifests to disk (globalStorageUri/manifest-cache.json) for 24 hours. On the next activation or manual refresh, if the cache is fresh and the profile hasn't changed, the network request is skipped. Changing crc.profile immediately triggers a fresh fetch.

Profiles

Profiles allow you to serve different tool sets and configurations to different groups. A profile is a directory under manifests/ on the server. Users select a profile via crc.profile in Settings.

Common pattern:

Add as many profiles as needed — no extension update is required.

Contributing

Run and debug

Press F5 to open a new VS Code window with the extension loaded. Reload (Ctrl+R / Cmd+R) the window after code changes to pick them up.

Run linters and tests

npm run test

Package and install locally

npm run package
npx vsce package --out build/my-test.vsix
code --install-extension build/my-test.vsix --force

Deployment

• Push code to GitLab — semantic-release creates the version and VSIX artifact.
• Push code to GitHub.
• Publish to the VS Code Marketplace.

License

Distributed under the MIT License — see LICENSE.txt or https://spdx.org/licenses/MIT.html.

Contributors

• FX Soubirou (Orange SA) — Initial work
• Omar Oumlala (Orange SA) — Additional features