VS Code ACP Client Extension

Disclaimer: Some of the code in this extension is generated by AI.

Experimental

Native chat session provider for VS Code that connects external agent CLIs through the Agent Client Protocol (ACP).

Features

• Adds support for ACP agents in VS Code as external agents
• Supports
  • OpenCode
  • cagent
  • Codex CLI through https://github.com/zed-industries/codex-acp
  • Gemini CLI

Configuration

Add ACP agents under the acpClient.agents setting (User or Workspace) to surface them in the chat session picker. You can also provide optional MCP tool connections via mcpServers so the agent automatically connects to additional tools when sessions start. MCP support is currently limited to stdio transports, so each entry must include the command to launch the tool and any arguments or environment variables it needs:

"acpClient.agents": {
  "cagent": {
    "title": "Docker cagent",
    "command": "/opt/bin/cagent",
    "args": [
      "acp",
      "/agents/coding.yaml"
    ],
    "mcpServers": [
      {
        "type": "stdio",
        "name": "workspace-tools",
        "command": "/opt/bin/mcp-tool",
        "args": ["serve"],
        "env": {
          "WORKSPACE": "${workspaceFolder}"
        }
      }
    ],
    "enabled": false
  },
  "opencode": {
    "title": "OpenCode Agent",
    "command": "/opt/bin/opencode",
    "args": [
      "acp"
    ],
    "mcpServers": [],
    "enabled": true
  }
}

Installing

At the moment the extension is under development, so this is not yet published into VSCode market place. But if you want to try out as it is you can install the extension by building it locally and installing into your VSCode Insider since this extension relies on some of the experimental APIs only available in VSCode Insider.

To build the extension locally you can follow these steps:

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/gayanper/vscode-acp-provider.git

2. Navigate to the project directory

   cd vscode-acp-provider

3. Install the dependencies

   npm install

4. Build the extension

   npm run package

5. Open VSCode Insider and install the extension

   • Open the command palette (Ctrl+Shift+P or Cmd+Shift+P on Mac)
   • Type Extensions: Install from VSIX... and select it
   • Browse to the location of the built .vsix file (usually in the vscode-acp-provider directory) and select it to install

6. Configure Runtime Arguments to enable proposed API for this extension

   • Open the command palette (Ctrl+Shift+P or Cmd+Shift+P on Mac)
   • Type Preferences: Configure Runtime Arguments and select it
   • Add the following line to the argv.json file that opens:

     "enable-proposed-api": ["org-gap.vscode-acp-client"]

   • Save the file and restart VSCode Insider

Usage

After configuring you should see the configured agents in the chat session picker. Select one to start a new chat session with the external agent.