Agents
You don't need a coding agent. You need a team.
Run Claude, Codex, Gemini, and Cursor side-by-side in your IDE. Each agent becomes a tech lead that can spawn sub-agents. You become the engineering manager - approving plans, watching execution, shipping faster.
Homepage: https://swarmify.co/#agents-ext
Marketplace: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=swarmify.swarm-ext
MCP Server: @swarmify/agents-mcp - enables sub-agent spawning
The Problem
CLI agents like Claude Code, Codex, and Gemini are powerful - but one agent can't juggle research, implementation, testing, and debugging in one pass. Context windows force awkward batching. Running agents in separate terminals means constant context-switching.
The Solution
This extension turns your IDE into a command center:
- Full-screen terminals - Agents run as editor tabs, not buried panels. See your code and agent side-by-side.
- Session persistence - Close VS Code, reopen it, your agent tabs come back exactly where you left off.
- Sub-agent spawning - With Swarm MCP enabled, each agent can delegate to other agents. Claude researches while Codex implements while Cursor debugs - in parallel.
- Approval gates - You approve plans before agents execute. Control without bottleneck.
Workflow: Task, Plan, Approve
- Task - Describe what you need with
/swarm inside the IDE.
- Plan - The orchestrator drafts a distribution: who codes, who debugs, who researches.
- Approve - You gate execution. Agents run only after your approval.
Quick Start
- Install the extension from VS Code Marketplace
- Press
Cmd+Shift+A to spawn your first agent
- Open Dashboard (
Cmd+Shift+D) to configure auto-start and Swarm
Navigation
| Shortcut |
Action |
Cmd+Shift+A |
Spawn new agent |
Cmd+Shift+L |
Label agent by task |
Cmd+Shift+C |
Clear and restart agent |
Cmd+Shift+D |
Open Dashboard |
Cmd+Shift+I |
Focus agent (quick picker) |
Cmd+Shift+H |
Horizontal split (tmux-style) |
Cmd+Shift+V |
Vertical split (tmux-style) |
Features
Agent Terminals
Spawn any agent as a full-screen editor tab. Built-in support for Claude Code, Codex, Gemini, OpenCode, and Cursor. Add custom agents through settings.
Session Persistence
Every open agent terminal is fully restorable. Session ID, icon, and custom labels are saved to disk in real-time. VS Code crashes? Restart? All your agent tabs come back exactly as they were.
Sub-Agent Spawning
With @swarmify/agents-mcp installed, any agent can spawn sub-agents for parallel work. The orchestrator enforces approval gates. Sub-agents run in the background and survive IDE restarts.
Task Management
- Labels - Tag agents by task (
Cmd+Shift+L). Status bar shows active agent and label.
- TODO.md parsing - Discovers TODO.md files in your workspace. Spawn agents directly from task items.
- Session history - Browse recent sessions from the dashboard. Resume any previous conversation.
AI Git Commits
Generate commit messages from staged changes with Cmd+Shift+G. Learns from your commit style, then stages, commits, and pushes in one action.
Agent Safety Modes
When spawning sub-agents via Swarm:
- plan - Read-only. Agents can explore but not modify files.
- edit - Agents can write files after your approval.
- ralph - Autonomous mode. Agent works through RALPH.md tasks until done.
Additional Features
- Auto-start - Configure which agents launch when VS Code opens
- Default models - Set preferred model per agent type
- Shell terminals - Spawn plain shells alongside agents (
Cmd+Shift+S)
- Markdown editor - Custom
.md editor with image paste support
- Notifications - Native macOS notifications when agents need attention
For Teams
- Shared dashboard keeps approvals and assignments visible.
- Consistent agent distribution prevents over- or under-staffing tasks.
- Approval gates make it easy for leads to review before code runs.
Requirements
- VS Code or Cursor
- Agent CLIs installed (
claude, codex, gemini, cursor-agent, opencode)
- OpenAI API key (optional, only for commit generation)
License
MIT
