VertaAI Governance

Real-time AI capability drift alerts embedded in your code editor.

Works with Claude Code, Copilot, Cursor, Augment, Windsurf, and any VS Code AI assistant — no matter which AI you use, governance travels with your workspace.

What it does

When your AI assistant writes code that touches cloud infrastructure (S3, IAM, databases, secrets), VertaAI checks whether that capability was declared in the project's IntentArtifact before the code is committed. If it wasn't — you get an inline warning, a status bar alert, and a blocked pre-flight check returned to the AI.

Three signals fire in real time:

Signal	When it fires	Latency
Status bar + popup	Drift cluster detected in production	< 1 second via SSE
Inline diagnostic	Capability-indicating code saved to disk	< 100 ms
AI pre-flight block	AI calls `check_capability_intent` before coding	Synchronous

Quick setup (30 seconds)

Install this extension from the VS Code Marketplace
Open Command Palette: Cmd+Shift+P → VertaAI: Setup
Enter your API URL and Workspace ID (from your VertaAI dashboard)
Done — restart your AI assistant to pick up the governance rules

The setup wizard automatically writes config files for every AI assistant you have installed:

File written	For
`.claude/CLAUDE.md`	Claude Code (Track 0 auto-injection)
`.github/copilot-instructions.md`	GitHub Copilot (workspace custom instructions)
`.cursor/mcp.json`	Cursor (MCP server config)
`.vscode/mcp.json`	VS Code 1.99+ native MCP
`.mcp.json`	Claude Code MCP
`.augment/settings.json`	Augment

How each AI assistant gets governance

Claude Code

Claude Code reads .claude/CLAUDE.md on every session start. The setup wizard writes a governance rule table that instructs Claude to call check_capability_intent before writing any infrastructure code. No developer action needed after setup.

GitHub Copilot

The extension registers vertaai_check_capability_intent as a VS Code Language Model Tool (VS Code 1.90+). Copilot can call this tool directly. The wizard also writes .github/copilot-instructions.md with mandatory pre-flight rules.

Cursor

The wizard writes .cursor/mcp.json pointing to your VertaAI MCP server. Cursor loads it as an MCP integration, giving the AI access to check_capability_intent and vertaai://governance/{workspaceId}.

Augment

The wizard writes .augment/settings.json with the MCP server URL. Augment picks it up on next restart.

Windsurf + others

Real-time drift alerts appear in the status bar regardless of which AI you use. The local capability scanner shows inline warnings in any editor.

Status bar

State	Meaning
`$(shield) VertaAI`	Monitoring, no alerts
`$(check) VertaAI ✓`	All services compliant
`$(warning) VertaAI`	Operational drift — team review needed
`$(error) VertaAI CRITICAL`	Critical drift — block current release

Click the status bar item to open the full governance report.

Inline capability warnings

The extension scans every saved file for capability-indicating code patterns:

// This line triggers a VertaAI warning:
await s3.putObject({ Bucket: 'my-bucket', Key: key, Body: data });
// VertaAI: `s3_write` detected — verify this capability is declared in your IntentArtifact

Warnings appear as VS Code diagnostics (Problems panel + inline squiggles). Severity:

Error (red): iam_modify, secret_write
Warning (amber): s3_write, s3_delete, db_admin, secret_read
Info (blue): db_write, s3_read, db_read, infra_create

Settings

Setting	Default	Description
`vertaai.apiUrl`	`http://localhost:3001`	VertaAI API base URL
`vertaai.workspaceId`	(empty)	Your workspace ID from the VertaAI dashboard
`vertaai.notificationCooldownMinutes`	`5`	Minutes between repeat alert popups

Requirements

VS Code 1.90+ (or Cursor, Windsurf, any VS Code-compatible editor)
A VertaAI workspace (sign up at vertaai.com)

Get your workspace ID

Go to vertaai.com and sign in
Open Settings → Workspace
Copy your Workspace ID
Run Cmd+Shift+P → VertaAI: Setup and paste it in

License

MIT — see LICENSE