Agents

Meet the future of IDEs: the Integrated Agents Environment.

Turn your editor into a command center for orchestrating Claude, Codex, Gemini, and Cursor in parallel. Each agent runs as a full-screen editor tab. Each agent can spawn sub-agents. You orchestrate — approving plans, monitoring 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

Why an IAE?

Text editors became IDEs when coding got complex. Now that AI agents do the coding, your environment needs to evolve again. When you're running 10+ orchestrators each spinning 10+ agents, terminals and TUIs collapse. You need an environment built for that scale.

This extension turns your IDE into an IAE:

• 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.
• Keyboard-first - 12+ shortcuts for spawning, switching, labeling, and reviewing agents. No mouse needed.

Workflow: Task, Plan, Approve

1. Task - Describe what you need with /swarm inside the IDE.
2. Plan - The orchestrator drafts a distribution: who codes, who debugs, who researches.
3. Approve - You gate execution. Agents run only after your approval.

Quick Start

1. Install the extension from VS Code Marketplace
2. Press Cmd+Shift+A to spawn your first agent
3. Open Dashboard (Cmd+Shift+D) to configure auto-start and Swarm

Navigation

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)

Related Packages

• @swarmify/agents-mcp - MCP server for sub-agent spawning
• @swarmify/agents-cli - Moved to its own repository

License

MIT