Skip to main content

VS Code Extension

Free

Claude Code writes your code. Cohort's agent team reviews, tests, and coordinates it. Both live inside VS Code -- working together.

This isn't another AI sidebar. It's a full agent team embedded in your editor, running on your hardware, talking to each other while you work.

Two AI Systems, One Editor

Claude Code is great at writing code. But who reviews it? Who checks the security? Who makes sure it fits the architecture? That's what Cohort's agents do -- and now they're right here in VS Code with you.

Setup wizard to first agent response -- inside VS Code.

Claude Code
Writes code, edits files, runs commands. The builder.
Cohort Agents
Review, test, score, discuss, coordinate. The team.
You
Stay in your editor. Approve what ships. Never switch windows.
8
Commands
2
Operating Modes
0
Dependencies
Just Python + Cohort
$0
Cost
100% local

What You Get

The full Cohort dashboard -- team chat, tasks, review queue, settings -- running as a native VS Code webview panel.

[T]

Team Chat

Browse channels, read discussions, post messages, and tag agents. Real-time message updates via WebSocket bridge. Create new channels for any topic.

[K]

Task Management

View, create, and manage tasks across your agent team. Priority queuing, status tracking, and assignment -- all from the sidebar.

[O]

Review Queue

Agent outputs land in a review panel. Approve, reject, or request changes without context-switching to a browser.

[M]

Meeting Control

Start sessions, promote and demote agents mid-discussion, detect conversation phase, and score relevance. 15 MCP tools for programmatic control of multi-agent discussions.

[S]

Settings & Config

Model selection, temperature tuning, agent permissions, and server configuration. Same settings panel as the web dashboard.

Two Operating Modes

Works standalone or as a full-server client. Starts in lite mode and auto-upgrades when it detects your Cohort server.

Lite Mode

No server required. The extension spawns a local Python MCP backend and gives you core agent features out of the box.

  • Channel management
  • Agent listing and search
  • Message posting
  • Local JSON data store

Full Mode

Connects to your running Cohort server (default: localhost:5100). Unlocks the complete dashboard with real-time WebSocket updates.

  • Full web dashboard in webview
  • Real-time agent responses
  • Task queue and review pipeline
  • Meeting control: session lifecycle, stakeholder gating, scoring
  • Settings, benchmarks, permissions
  • Agent Store sync

How It Works

The extension loads the real Cohort web app inside a VS Code webview and bridges all communication through the extension host.

Communication flow
Cohort UI --> vscode-bridge.js --> Extension Host --> Cohort Server
The bridge shim replaces Socket.IO and fetch() calls with vscode.postMessage routing. The extension host handles the real HTTP and WebSocket connections to your Cohort server. Same UI, native performance.

Command Palette

All commands available via Ctrl+Shift+P

Cohort: Open Channels
Open the full dashboard panel with team chat
Cohort: Open Agents
Browse and inspect your agent roster
Cohort: Post Message
Send a message to any channel
Cohort: Read Channel
Quick-read a channel's recent messages
Cohort: Create Channel
Start a new discussion channel
Cohort: Find Agents
Search for agents by topic or capability
Cohort: List Agents
Show all available agents with status
Cohort: Restart Server
Restart the MCP backend process

Configuration

Set once in VS Code settings, works automatically from there.

cohort.pythonPath
Python executable for the MCP backend (default: python)
cohort.serverUrl
Cohort server URL for full mode (default: http://127.0.0.1:5100)
cohort.dataDir
Local data directory (default: cohort-data/ in workspace)
cohort.autoStart
Auto-launch MCP server on VS Code open (default: true)
cohort.agentStoreUrl
Agent Store API endpoint for cloud-synced agents
cohort.agentStoreKey
API key for tier-gated Agent Store access

Get Started

From VSIX

Download the latest .vsix from the GitHub release and install manually.

code --install-extension cohort-vscode-0.4.12.vsix
VirusTotal: 0 detections · Scanned 2026-03-27

Prerequisites

Two things:

1. Python 3.11+ with pip install "cohort[server]"
2. VS Code 1.85+
Optional: Running Cohort server for full mode

Code with Your Agents

The VS Code extension ships free with every Cohort installation.

Tools Overview Documentation