Standalone VS Code companion extension for local coding agents.

It does three things:

watches <agentStateDir>/<role>/kickoff.json and opens Copilot Chat when a fresh kickoff arrives
emits lightweight live activity to <agentStateDir>/<role>/state.json and activity.jsonl
exposes an operator webview for pause, resume, poke, restart, and quick state inspection across all roles

The extension is intentionally repo-agnostic. It assumes only:

a shared agent state directory, default .agent
a roles manifest, default .github/agents/roles.json
optional spawnScript fields in the roles manifest for Poke and Restart actions

Configuration

These settings can be defined in workspace settings:

{
	"agentConsole.role": "SeniorEngineerAgent",
	"agentConsole.agentStateDir": ".agent",
	"agentConsole.rolesFile": ".github/agents/roles.json",
	"agentConsole.issueUrlTemplate": "https://github.com/owner/repo/issues/{issue}"
}

Role detection order:

agentConsole.role
AGENT_CONSOLE_ROLE environment variable
legacy PARTNER_PATH_ROLE environment variable
inferred from roles.json userDataDir leaf names found in the current VS Code process arguments

Expected kickoff schema

{
	"role": "SeniorEngineerAgent",
	"ts": "2026-04-20T23:20:00.000Z",
	"epoch": 1776727200,
	"reason": "respawn-stale-heartbeat",
	"version": 1,
	"prompt": "Optional override prompt",
	"mode": "Optional chat mode hint"
}

Payloads with version !== 1 are ignored with a status-bar warning.

Development

npm install
npm run build

To package a .vsix:

npm run package

Install

From GitHub Release — grab agent-console.vsix from the Releases page and install via Extensions panel -> ... -> Install from VSIX, or:
```
code-insiders --install-extension agent-console.vsix --force
```
From Marketplace — once published: search "Agent Console" in the Extensions panel, or code --install-extension sirjamesoffordii.agent-console.

Publishing (maintainer notes)

Automated via .github/workflows/publish.yml:

Create an Azure DevOps PAT with Marketplace: Manage scope at https://dev.azure.com.
Add it as a repo secret named VSCE_PAT (Settings -> Secrets and variables -> Actions).
Optional: add OVSX_PAT for Open VSX.
Push a v* tag or run the Publish workflow via workflow_dispatch.

Manual fallback:

npx @vscode/vsce login sirjamesoffordii   # paste PAT once
npm run publish

Companion tools

Reusable PowerShell helpers that pair with the extension live under tools/:

tools/agent-contract/ — producer-side primitives (Write-AgentKickoff, Write-AgentNextPrompt, Write-AgentNextAction) that any repo can import to drive the extension's JSON bus.
tools/agent-tray/ — Windows system-tray launcher that reads heartbeat files, surfaces overall health, and exposes spawn / poke / pause / resume / open-console actions via right-click menu.

Neither is packaged into the VSIX; they are repo-agnostic companion scripts to copy or reference from any host repo.