Codient is a standalone extension that analyzes, refactors, debugs and generates code directly from your workspace. Multi-file, with safe backups, change preview and persistent browser sessions.
Built for real-world development workflows: multi-file analysis, safe edits with automatic backups, change preview and persistent browser-based sessions.
Use Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or DeepSeek from the same extension and switch models any time.
A chat view in the activity bar, available through a keyboard shortcut.
Analyze and edit one file or several files together in a single request.
Choose the files to edit up front, with a clear-selection button to start over.
Let the AI explore your project with read-only shell commands before it edits anything.
Overwrite mode creates an automatic backup, so changes are never applied blindly.
Review the suggested changes before applying them to your files.
A retry button lets you resend a failed message without retyping it.
Your unsent prompt is kept even when the webview reloads.
Persistent login sessions for AI accounts, for manual use and login-based workflows.
Separate sessions per account, such as work and personal.
Route requests through an HTTP or SOCKS5 proxy.
Control which file extensions are included and which directories are excluded.
Install Codient from the VS Code Marketplace, or from a downloaded .vsix file.
Install Codient from the VS Code Marketplace, or search for codient-ai in the Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X).
Download the latest .vsix from the Releases page and install it
from the terminal.
code --install-extension codient-*.vsix
Open the Codient chat from the activity bar, or use a keyboard shortcut. Write a prompt, choose the files to edit, send the request, and retry if a message fails. Your unsent prompt is kept even if the view reloads.
Open the Codient chat view.
Ctrl+Shift+C
Open the Codient chat view.
Cmd+Alt+C
Open the Command Palette with Ctrl+Shift+P (or Cmd+Shift+P on Mac) and search for Codient. Ask AI and Preview Changes are also available from the editor and Explorer context menus.
Opens the Codient chat view in the sidebar.
Analyze and edit files using AI. Changes are applied directly, with automatic backup. Great for bug fixing, code review, optimization suggestions, and adding comments or improvements.
Same as Ask AI but without modifying files, so you can review suggestions first and explore refactoring ideas safely.
Opens a persistent AI web session in Chrome using the currently active profile. Use it to log in to AI accounts or for manual, login-based workflows.
Switch between Chrome profiles from ~/.codient/profiles/, or type a new name to create
one on the fly. Updates the codient.profile
setting globally.
Interactively switch the AI model: Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or DeepSeek.
Set or clear a chat ID so requests continue in a specific conversation.
Opens a menu with both the set and clear actions for the chat ID.
To log in with a different profile, first run Codient: Switch Profile, then open the browser session.
Available in VS Code settings under codient.*.
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| codient.model | Default |
AI model to use: Default, Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek |
| codient.profile | default |
Chrome profile to use. Use Codient: Switch Profile to change it interactively. |
| codient.proxy | empty | Proxy address, e.g. http://127.0.0.1:8080 or socks5://127.0.0.1:1080. Leave empty to disable.
|
| codient.codeExtensions | .py, .js, .ts, .jsx, .tsx, .java, .cpp, .c, .go, .rs, .php, .rb, .html, .css, .scss, .sass, .less, .json | File extensions to include when scanning for code files. |
| codient.excludeDirs | node_modules, .git, dist, build, __pycache__, venv, env, .venv | Directory names to exclude when scanning for code files. |
Override the arrays in your workspace .vscode/settings.json:
{
"codient.codeExtensions": [".php"],
"codient.excludeDirs": ["vendor", "storage", "node_modules", ".git"]
}
Profiles let you maintain separate Chrome sessions for different accounts or purposes,
such as default, work, personal or client-x.
Each profile is stored in its own folder.
~/.codient/profiles/<name>/
Select work.
Log in with your work account.
Runs with the work profile automatically.