Runtrol Studio for VS Code

Run the coding-agent CLIs already installed on your computer from one integrated VS Code sidebar.

Product site | Source | Phone app

Runtrol Studio is the flagship graphical client for the local Runtrol Runtime. Runtime discovers provider CLIs, supervises their processes, and connects each provider-owned conversation to its exact workspace. Studio presents that public Runtime contract inside VS Code. It does not replace a provider CLI, call a model API, or keep a second copy of a conversation.

Install

1. Open Extensions in VS Code.
2. Search for Runtrol Studio or the exact identifier @id:runtrol.runtrol-studio.
3. Select Install.
4. Open the Runtrol symbol in the Activity Bar.

The Marketplace package includes the native Runtime for the selected platform. Keep each coding-agent CLI installed and authenticated through its own official flow. No Core path is required for a Marketplace installation, and no model API key is ever entered into Studio.

Updates

Marketplace installations use VS Code's built-in extension updates. VS Code checks for releases and updates enabled extensions automatically. An immediate update is available from the extension's Update action or VS Code's Check for Extension Updates command.

A manually installed VSIX has automatic updates disabled by VS Code. If an older Runtrol copy came from a VSIX, open the extension's Manage menu and enable Auto Update, or uninstall it and install the Marketplace version once. Runtrol never downloads or replaces extension packages outside VS Code's signed Marketplace flow.

An extension update does not take ownership of live conversations. The Runtime lives at one extension-global managed path, and an upgrade reconnects to the exact Runtime generation that owns each terminal after the Extension Host restarts.

One sidebar

Studio contributes one webview view whose header is Runtrol followed by the installed version. Projects, conversations, first-run actions, and compact usage gauges share that page instead of occupying separate VS Code view headers. The host builds the complete model from Runtime state; page code renders it and sends command identities back, but never calls a provider or receives a conversation body.

• Add a project folder and its provider-owned conversations appear below it.
• Conversations outside added projects remain ordinary top-level rows.
• Start, open, pin, rename, archive, close, or delete through the provider capabilities Runtime discovered.
• Opening a Studio window never continues or resumes a conversation. Live terminals attach to their exact process; cold conversations start only after an explicit open action.
• Provider commands started in a new integrated terminal pass through Runtime's transparent shim. Every open sidebar sees one live row, and every terminal tab attaches to the same PTY stream. A later provider title replaces the project placeholder in the row and tab.
• A process already running outside that broker is preserved and shown as external. Studio blocks duplicate resume and opens it only through a provider-published official target or a compatible Microsoft Windows console mirror. The first click creates the one shared renderer; observation alone creates no helper, screen, or ring. Every other external process remains visible but observe-only. If its live roster cannot be refreshed, the row becomes Unavailable rather than keeping a stale Elsewhere badge or starting a second owner.
• A working conversation spins its coding-service icon and lights its project-coloured left band. Idle rows have no coloured band; a static warning or error band means the conversation needs attention rather than doing work.
• Every installed service contributes one compact usage chip. Its ring shows the provider's seven-day percentage when one exists. Hover or focus previews every reported limit window, plan, reset time, and report age. Pressing an informational chip pins that detail; a chip with only one available account action performs that action instead.
• A service that does not publish a seven-day number says so. Studio never invents capacity or usage.

The accent uses the runtrol.accent theme color. VS Code intentionally masks Activity Bar symbols to the active theme foreground, while the Marketplace icon and other public brand surfaces use the canonical coral and white mark.

Provider terminal, not another chat page

Opening a conversation creates an editor-area terminal tab showing that coding service's own terminal interface. Model selection, effort, permissions, approvals, and history remain the provider CLI's own controls. Split, grid, keyboard input, and full screen remain VS Code controls.

The local Runtime owns one central terminal renderer or console mirror and a bounded screen snapshot. Closing a tab detaches that viewer without ending the provider process. If an update creates a new Runtime generation, Studio reconnects a tab only to the exact generation that owns its terminal. It never redirects input to a different process or retries uncertain input.

Agent Tools

Select the sparkle on a project or run Runtrol: Enable Agent Tools for This Project to let installed coding agents use Runtrol's bounded Runtime tools for that canonical project root. Each provider is registered only through its official CLI command. Disabling Agent Tools revokes the protected local credential and removes provider registration when no enabled project still needs it.

Agent Tools cannot answer approvals, delete provider conversations, silently share a working tree, hold an API key, keep a transcript copy, or run a Runtrol-owned agent loop. See the complete Agent Tools contract.

Phone continuity

Pair the phone PWA from Studio's one-use QR to view the same Core-hosted conversations remotely. Remote authority is default deny, is narrowed to explicit roots and providers, and can be revoked from the PC. The relay sees ciphertext; Runtrol does not place provider credentials or model API keys in the relay.

Requirements

• Desktop VS Code 1.106 or newer.
• Windows, macOS, or Linux on x64 or ARM64.
• A trusted local filesystem workspace for project conversations.
• At least one supported coding-agent CLI installed and authenticated through its official account flow.

The current release packages Claude Code and Codex support. Provider selection remains manifest-driven, so the Runtime and Studio terminal path contain no provider-name branch.

Virtual workspaces and browser-only VS Code cannot start local provider CLI processes.

Main commands

• Runtrol: New Conversation
• Runtrol: Switch Conversation
• Runtrol: Open Next Waiting Conversation
• Runtrol: Arrange Open Conversations in a Grid
• Runtrol: Refresh Conversations
• Runtrol: Add Project
• Runtrol: Delete All Conversations in Project
• Runtrol: Set Up Coding Services
• Runtrol: Check Provider Updates
• Runtrol: Enable Agent Tools for This Project
• Runtrol: Review Integration Requests
• Runtrol: Manage Runtime Integrations
• Runtrol: Review Runtime Requests
• Runtrol: Pair a Phone
• Runtrol: Restart Extension Host

Settings

Ownership and security

The installed provider CLI owns its account, conversation, terminal interface, native session record, and repository changes. Runtrol owns only supervision metadata, process and workspace boundaries, authority, and bounded transport.

Runtrol does not:

• read or copy provider transcripts;
• interpret, summarize, or rewrite terminal bytes;
• hold or forward model API keys;
• hardcode provider versions, models, flags, or session paths;
• replace the provider CLI's agent loop.

Only bounded identifiers and operational metadata required for reconnect and authority survive a restart. Prompts, replies, terminal frames, drafts, and approval content are not written to Studio storage.

Troubleshooting

If no service appears, install and authenticate its CLI through the provider's official flow, then run Runtrol: Refresh Conversations. If Studio needs recovery, run Runtrol: Restart Extension Host. The Extension Host restarts while Runtime and its supervised provider processes remain alive.

For an exact identifier search, use @id:runtrol.runtrol-studio or open the Marketplace listing.

Support and development

• Product site
• Source and issue tracker
• Security policy
• Runtime integration guide
• Studio operating contract