VS Code Extension for Codev Agent Farm

[amrmelsayed]

Summary

VS Code extension (codev-vscode) that acts as a thin client to Tower's existing API, bringing the Agent Farm dashboard experience natively into the IDE.

Key Components

• Native terminals (Pseudoterminal + WebSocket)
• Work View sidebar (TreeView)
• Status bar (builder count, blocked gates)
• Command Palette (afx/porch commands)
• File link handling (afx open)
• Review comments (Comments API, interoperable with browser dashboard annotations)
• Analytics Webview (Recharts)
• Connection resilience (reconnection, degraded state)

Spec

codev/specs/0602-vscode-extension.md

Approach

Thin client extension (Approach 1) — all state stays in Tower/shellper. Native VS Code UI for operational controls, Webview only for analytics.

Open Questions

• Monorepo vs separate repo → Monorepo (packages/codev-vscode/)
• afx open URI scheme vs filesystem watcher
• Auto-start Tower or require manual start
• Terminal naming convention

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Spec: 0602
Protocol: SPIR

[amrmelsayed]

Closing as substantially complete.

Shipped via the VSCode extension (v3.0.x):

• Native terminals (Pseudoterminal + WebSocket) — works across architect, builder, shell, dev kinds
• Workspace sidebar tree views: Workspace, Needs Attention, Builders, Pull Requests, Backlog, Recently Closed, Team, Status
• Status bar with builder count and gate indicators
• Command palette integration for afx/porch commands
• File link handling via `afx open`
• Review comments (Comments API)
• Connection resilience (auto-reconnect, degraded state, auto-start Tower)
• Right-click builder context menu: Open Terminal, Open Worktree Folder, View Diff, Run Worktree Setup, Run Dev Server, Stop Dev Server (Runnable worktrees: .codev/config.json worktree block + afx dev #689 + VSCode sidebar: View Diff + Run/Stop Dev Server commands #690)

Resolved open questions:

• ✅ Monorepo (`packages/vscode/`)
• ✅ `afx open` — implemented as a custom command (not URI scheme or filesystem watcher)
• ✅ Auto-start Tower — `codev.autoStartTower: true` by default
• ✅ Terminal naming — `Codev: Architect`, `Codev: `, `Codev: (dev)`, `Codev: Shell #N`

Deferred to follow-ups:

• Image paste into terminal → tracked in VSCode extension: image paste into Codev terminal #736 (structural gap: VSCode's image-paste bridge doesn't fire for Pseudoterminal-backed terminals; needs per-OS clipboard shim)
• Analytics webview (Recharts) — not implemented, deprioritized; can be reopened if demand materializes

Disposition: feature-complete for the operational surface. The one outstanding gap is filed as #736.