Hold the Vibe

✨ Why this exists

You kicked off an agent. Now you're watching it think, edit, run commands — and there's nothing for you to do but wait. It's boring.

Hold the Vibe leans into that dead time with a joke: classic elevator hold music while the agent works. You're not really "on hold" with a call center — you're on hold with a language model — but the vibe fits. Sit back, let the muzak play, twiddle your thumbs, glance away from the screen.

The ding when it's done? A small bonus so you know the turn finished. The extension isn't a reminder app for people who forgot they sent a prompt. The music is the whole bit.

Less silent staring. More please-hold energy.

🎬 How it works

By default the extension runs in Advanced Mode. Here's what happens during a single agent turn:

sequenceDiagram
    participant You
    participant Agent as AI Agent
    participant Hook as Editor Hook
    participant Bridge as Local Bridge
    participant Vibe as Hold the Vibe

    You->>Agent: Submit prompt
    Agent->>Hook: beforeSubmitPrompt / UserPromptSubmit
    Hook->>Bridge: POST /activity/start
    Bridge->>Vibe: ▶ Start hold music
    Note over Vibe: 🎵 elevator muzak — the whole joke
    Agent->>Hook: stop / Stop
    Hook->>Bridge: POST /activity/stop
    Bridge->>Vibe: ⏹ Stop music + ding
    Vibe-->>You: 🔔 Music stops, little ding (bonus)

In plain terms:

1. You send a prompt to your AI agent.
2. Your editor (VS Code or Cursor) fires a lifecycle "hook" the instant the agent starts working.
3. A small script forwards that as a message to a tiny local server the extension runs on your own machine — nothing ever leaves your computer.
4. The extension starts the hold music — that's the experience you're here for.
5. When the agent finishes, the music stops and you hear a ding. Helpful, but secondary.

The Hook, the Bridge, and the music player are all just parts of this one extension — the diagram splits them into separate boxes only to make the order of events clearer.

Advanced Mode (shown above, and on by default) hooks directly into your editor's agent events, so the music and ding fire reliably on every turn. There's a small, real startup delay the first time audio plays each turn — spinning up the player takes a moment — but it never blocks or slows down the agent itself.

Notify Mode is a zero-install fallback for editors or setups where hooks aren't available. Instead of hooks, the AI can call a small "let the user know" tool built into the extension, and a backup check listens for terminal commands wrapping up. No files get written and nothing needs installing — but since it relies on the AI remembering to call that tool, it can occasionally miss a turn, which Advanced Mode doesn't.

⚡ Install

Option A — Marketplace (easiest)

Search Elevator Music in the Extensions panel, or install directly:

marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=joenberg.elevator-music

Or from the command line:

code --install-extension joenberg.elevator-music
# Cursor:
cursor --install-extension joenberg.elevator-music

Cursor users: if it's not in Cursor's built-in search yet, use the command above or grab the .vsix from Releases and Command Palette → Extensions: Install from VSIX…

Option B — Download a release

Grab the latest .vsix from GitHub Releases, then Command Palette → Extensions: Install from VSIX… → select the file. Reload once.

Option C — Build from source

git clone https://github.com/joenb33/hold-the-vibe.git
cd hold-the-vibe
npm install
npm run compile
npm run package

Install the generated .vsix as above.

Option D — Hack on it

git clone https://github.com/joenb33/hold-the-vibe.git
cd hold-the-vibe
npm install && npm run compile

Open the folder, press F5, and use the Extension Development Host window that opens.

Heads up: While developing, run agent tasks in the new window — not your main editor.

🚀 Try it right now

1. Look at the status bar (bottom-right) → Advanced (Cursor) or Advanced Mode
2. Click it → Test hold music (3s) 🎵 then Test ding 🔔
3. Ask your agent to do something real — refactor a file, run tests, whatever
4. Enjoy the hold music while it runs; the ding is just the outro

If the muzak starts when the agent starts, it's working.

🎛 Two modes

Advanced Mode is on by default — reliable hold music on every agent turn. Toggle via the status bar menu or elevatorMusic.advancedMode in settings.

🖥 Works where you code

Both editors on one machine? Set elevatorMusic.installHooksForAllEditors to true when enabling Advanced Mode.

🔧 Settings worth knowing

Search elevatorMusic in Settings for the full list.

🎶 Sounds

Royalty-free audio, included:

Full credits: media/ATTRIBUTION.md. Swap in your own WAVs anytime via elevatorMusic.dingPath / holdMusicPath.

🛟 Troubleshooting

Advanced Mode needs VS Code 1.109+ with GitHub Copilot Chat agent hooks. The extension registers ~/.copilot/hooks in your user chat.hookFilesLocations setting automatically — reload once after first install.

Check the status bar: Advanced Mode (not Advanced (no hooks) or Bridge unreachable). Run Elevator Music: Show Diagnostics and confirm VS Code hooks: installed and Bridge: owner or running.

Still stuck? Try Test hold music (3s) from the status bar menu — if that works but agent turns don't, hooks aren't firing (upgrade VS Code or re-enable Advanced Mode).

If diagnostics show hook activity but you hear nothing on Windows, check Output → Elevator Music for playback errors. Earlier versions spawned audio in a detached process that exited immediately on Windows.

Large WAV files can take a moment to start on Windows. Check Output → Log (Extension Host) for [Elevator Music] Starting hold loop. Try Test hold music (3s) from the status bar menu.

The extension loads in the Extension Development Host window (the second window), not the one where you pressed F5.

Unrelated VS Code bug — see microsoft/vscode#301795. Try disabling Advanced Mode temporarily to compare.

One window owns the localhost bridge; others connect passively. Disabling Advanced Mode sends a clean shutdown to all windows.

More help? Open an issue, start a Discussion, or use Marketplace Q&A — we actually read them.

🤝 Contributing

Ideas, sounds, platform fixes, docs — all welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md. Release process: RELEASE.md.

Good first PRs: alternative hold loops (CC0), macOS/Linux playback polish, README improvements.

📄 License

• Code: MIT
• Bundled audio: CC0 — use freely, attribution appreciated