Neuron Companion by SADATA (v1.16.0)

Use Neuron directly inside VS Code. Ask questions, understand your project, choose how Neuron works, and keep an eye on your usage — without leaving your editor.

Get started

1. Install Neuron Companion from the VS Code Marketplace.
2. Select the Neuron icon in the Activity Bar.
3. Choose Login with Neuron and finish signing in in your browser.
4. Open VS Code Chat, choose a model from Neuron, and start asking questions.

You do not need to copy an API key into VS Code. Your sign-in is managed securely by VS Code and is removed when you log out.

Chat with Neuron

Neuron works in VS Code Chat, so you can ask questions while you work. Responses appear as they are generated, and Neuron can use the tools available in VS Code when you allow it. The model list is based on the models available to your Neuron account, so it can be different for each person. It is kept up to date in the background while you are signed in, so Neuron models stay in the Chat model picker without a manual refresh.

You can also @neuron a chat request for a dedicated Neuron persona that prefers searching this workspace's codebase index before answering. It runs alongside the regular Neuron entry in the model picker and uses VS Code's own tool-calling machinery, so model selection and tool execution still happen through VS Code.

Built for long sessions

Neuron is designed to stay responsive during long working sessions:

• Streaming text is delivered in small batches to reduce rendering and extension-host overhead.
• Prompt preparation reuses local context and model work instead of repeatedly scanning the same data.
• Automatic indexing yields between batches, pauses while a prompt is active, and resumes only when there is pending workspace work.
• Sidebar polling and gateway checks pause when VS Code is unfocused or the panel is hidden. Endpoint health checks also stop while you have an endpoint pinned, because there is no route left to choose.
• Timers, watchers, network requests, and background embedding work are cancelled when their panel, request, or extension lifecycle ends.
• Model catalogs and runtime caches avoid duplicate updates and remain bounded during long-running sessions.

Understand your project

Neuron can search your project by meaning, not only by exact words. This makes it easier to ask questions such as:

“Where is the login flow handled?”

How it works

• A project index is prepared automatically after you open a workspace and sign in.
• The index updates after your files change, so you can keep working without rebuilding it manually.
• The Codebase Index row near the bottom of the Neuron sidebar shows the current status.
• Run Neuron: Index Workspace (Semantic Search) from the Command Palette whenever you want to start an immediate refresh.
• You can ask Neuron to find relevant parts of your project directly from Chat.

The automatic index is created on your device by default. If you manually start an index and on-device processing is unavailable, Neuron may use its embedding service as a fallback. In that case, the selected source excerpts are sent to Neuron for processing. You can turn off automatic indexing in VS Code Settings by searching for Neuron: Auto Index.

Personalize how Neuron works

Open the Options tab in the Neuron sidebar to adjust the experience.

Reasoning Effort

Choose how much time Neuron should spend thinking:

• Smart Adaptive — Neuron chooses automatically for each question.
• Low — faster answers for simple requests.
• Medium — a balanced setting for everyday work.
• High — more careful reasoning for complex questions.
• Powerful — strong reasoning for demanding problems.
• Ultimate — the deepest available reasoning.

Context Window

Neuron follows each model's own context window, so there is nothing to configure. VS Code manages the conversation history it sends, and Neuron shortens an over-long conversation only as a last resort so a request never fails outright. Very large windows are capped at 256K to keep latency and cost predictable, and that same cap is what Neuron reports to VS Code — so VS Code does not build a prompt larger than Neuron will actually send.

The Context Window row near the bottom of the sidebar, alongside Codebase Index, shows how much of the usable prompt space your latest request consumed. A thin marker on the bar shows the session's highest usage for that model, so a single large request no longer leaves the reading pinned at 100%. The striped tail is space Neuron holds back on purpose: room for the reply, tool and request overhead, and a small estimation safety margin.

Hover the row for the exact breakdown, including the current prompt, the session peak, each protected segment, and whether older turns were trimmed. The row stays visible when you switch between tabs and remembers the last value when you close and reopen the sidebar. The value is available for requests sent through a Neuron model; VS Code does not expose token usage from other providers such as Copilot models.

Explore / Subagent Model

Choose which Neuron model should handle work delegated by VS Code’s Explore or subagent experience. Auto lets Neuron choose when automatic selection is available.

Planner Model

Choose which Neuron model should be used by VS Code’s built-in Plan experience. The available choices depend on the models supported by your account.

Endpoint

Use Neuron+ Smart Adaptive to let Neuron select the best available connection automatically, or choose another available endpoint yourself. On Smart Adaptive, the sidebar shows live endpoint health so you can see when a connection is unavailable or taking longer than usual.

When you pin an endpoint yourself, there is no route left to choose, so Neuron stops its periodic health checks and the list shows each endpoint's reported status instead of live latency. Switching back to Smart Adaptive immediately re-checks every endpoint. If a request fails while pinned, Neuron still re-checks and falls back to Smart Adaptive when the pinned endpoint is no longer usable.

See your usage

The Neuron sidebar includes four tabs:

• Limits — see your current limits and how much is left in each time window.
• Tokens — see today’s, last 7 days’, and all-time usage, plus your most-used models.
• Models — choose the model for Explore/subagent work and the Planner.
• Options — customize reasoning, model selection, and endpoint behavior.

The Context Window and Codebase Index rows sit together near the bottom of the sidebar, so the latest Neuron prompt usage and indexing state stay easy to check while you work.

The dashboard refreshes automatically while you are signed in. You can also refresh it manually. Hover over a usage percentage to see the exact count when that detail is available. Limits that reset every minute or less show no reset time, because it would be out of date almost as soon as it appeared.

Updates and helpful shortcuts

• When a newer Neuron Companion version is available, the sidebar shows an update indicator and the panel displays an update notice.
• The update notice includes a button that opens the extension’s update page in VS Code.
• The Web Panel button opens the Neuron web panel in your browser.
• The Status button opens the current Neuron model and service status page.
• A What’s New page opens after an update, and you can reopen it anytime from the Command Palette.

Commands

Open the VS Code Command Palette with ⇧⌘P on macOS or Ctrl+Shift+P on Windows and Linux.

Privacy at a glance

• Chat messages are sent to Neuron so Neuron can answer your questions.
• Automatic project indexing is performed on your device by default.
• Manual indexing can use Neuron’s embedding service as a fallback when local processing is unavailable; only the selected source excerpts needed for that process are sent.
• Your sign-in is stored by VS Code and is removed when you choose Log out.

Requirements

• Visual Studio Code 1.125 or newer.
• A Neuron account.
• An active internet connection for sign-in, Chat responses, usage information, and model/service status.

Feedback and support

If something does not work as expected, open an issue on GitHub Issues or contact SADATA Helpdesk.