MothX for VS Code

The official MothX client for Visual Studio Code. Sessions live in the sidebar; chat opens in the editor next to your code. ACP is the transport — the product is MothX.

Features

• Editor chat: New Chat / a session opens a chat tab beside your code
• Sessions sidebar: current and previous mothx sessions, without a multi-agent marketplace
• Editor actions: Explain / Fix / Tests from the editor context menu
• @ files: type @ in chat to attach a workspace file as an ACP resource link
• Mode-aware permissions: follow mothx plan / agent / yolo / os unless you override it
• Session Config Options: Provider / Model / Mode / Thinking (and boolean switches mothx advertises) live in the editor Chat header, not the input bar; the status bar shows the same summary
• Interactive Chat: built-in chat panel with Markdown rendering, inline tool call display, and collapsible tool sections
• Thinking Display: see agent reasoning in a collapsible block with streaming animation and elapsed time
• Slash Commands: autocomplete popup for agent-provided commands and skills
• File System Integration: MothX can read and write files in your workspace
• Terminal Execution: MothX can run commands with terminal output display
• Permission Management: configurable auto-approve policies for agent actions
• Protocol Traffic Logging: inspect all ACP JSON-RPC messages with request/response/notification labels
• Chat Persistence: conversations are preserved when switching panels

Quick Start

1. Install the mothx CLI and this extension
2. Open a workspace in VS Code
3. Click the MothX icon — the sidebar lists sessions
4. Click New Chat — chat opens on the right
5. Use editor context menu MothX: Explain / Fix / Tests on a selection

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• The mothx CLI installed and on your PATH
• VS Code 1.85+

Backend

This client talks to local mothx:

Setting	Default
mothx.cliPath	empty (use PATH)
mothx.acpArgs	acp --mode yolo
mothx.autoStart	true
mothx.permissions	followMode

Extra ACP agents stay behind mothx.experimental.extraAgents and are not shown in the default UI.

Commands

Command	Description
MothX: New Chat	Create a new mothx session
MothX: Open Chat	Focus the editor chat panel
MothX: Explain / Fix / Tests	Send the current file or selection
MothX: Start	Start mothx if it is not running
MothX: Doctor	Run mothx doctor (ACP or mothx doctor --json)
MothX: Inline Chat	Ask about the current selection in a comment thread
MothX: Open Settings	Open mothx client settings

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+Shift+A (Cmd+Shift+A on Mac)	Open Chat Panel
Escape (when a turn is in progress)	Cancel Current Turn

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• VS Code 1.85+

Setup

npm install

Build & Run

npm run compile    # One-time build
npm run watch      # Watch mode for development
npm run dev        # Launch a VS Code Extension Development Host with the MothX extension loaded (auto-recompiles on save)

You can also open a specific workspace in the dev host:

npm run dev -- /path/to/your/project

Alternatively, open the project in VS Code and press F5 to launch the Extension Development Host (this uses the bundled .vscode/launch.json and also starts the webpack watch task).

Testing

npm run pretest    # Compile tests + lint
npm test           # Run tests

Packaging

npm run package               # Production build
npx @vscode/vsce package      # Create .vsix

Architecture

The extension follows a modular architecture:

• Core: AgentManager, ConnectionManager, SessionManager, AcpClientImpl, SessionHistoryStore
• Handlers: FileSystemHandler, TerminalHandler, PermissionHandler, QuestionHandler, SessionUpdateHandler
• UI: SessionTreeProvider, ChatWebviewProvider (media/chat/), InlineChatController, MothxChatParticipant, StatusBarManager
• Config: AgentConfig, WorkspaceMcp, WorkspaceRoots
• Utils: Logger, StreamAdapter, mothx protocol / doctor / serve / workspace cwd

Communication with agents uses the ACP protocol (JSON-RPC 2.0 over stdio).

License

MIT — see LICENSE for details.