VS Code Extension

The xcaffold VS Code extension brings the full compiler workflow into your editor. Open a .xcaf file and get immediate schema-aware editing — no terminal required for day-to-day authoring.

Free. Open source. Apache 2.0.

Install

Search for xcaffold in the VS Code Extensions panel, or install directly from the command palette:

ext install saero-ai.vscode-xcaffold

→ View on VS Code Marketplace

Features

Schema-Aware Editing

IntelliSense completions for all .xcaf fields — kind:, name:, targets:, tools:, and more. Validate-on-save catches schema errors and cross-reference violations reported by the CLI validator.

D3 Dependency Graph

An interactive graph of your entire agent harness. Click any node to navigate to the source file. Visualize which agents share skills, rules, or MCP servers at a glance.

IDE Commands

Apply, validate, import, diff, check status, open the graph, scaffold new resources — all accessible from the command palette without leaving the editor. See the full command reference.

CodeLens Actions

Inline Apply and Validate actions appear above every kind: declaration — one click to compile or check your manifest without leaving the source file.

Resource Tree View

A sidebar panel that lists every resource in your project organized by kind — Agents, Skills, Rules, Workflows, MCP Servers, Hooks, Blueprints, Policies, and more. Click to open, right-click to delete or validate. Stays in sync as you add or remove .xcaf files.

The tree view also includes two special sections:

• Global — resources from the user-level ~/.xcaffold/ directory, visible alongside project resources when global scope is enabled.
• Registry — external resource registries configured for the project. Browse, add, remove, or inspect entries directly from the sidebar.

Status Dashboard

A live sidebar panel showing per-provider compilation state. Each provider gets its own card with a drift indicator, last applied timestamp, and file count. Hit Apply on any card to recompile that provider without opening a terminal. Refreshes automatically whenever you save a .xcaf file.

Deprecated providers display a warning badge with the recommended replacement. Sunset providers are filtered out automatically so you only see actionable targets.

Hover Documentation

Hover over any field name in a .xcaf file to see its schema description, valid values, and type — sourced from the CLI's schema definitions, with a built-in fallback when the CLI is unavailable.

Go-to-Definition

Cmd+Click (macOS) or Ctrl+Click (Windows/Linux) on any resource reference in a .xcaf file to jump directly to its source file.

Snippet Scaffolding

Starter snippets for resource kinds including agent, skill, rule, workflow, and mcp. Type the kind name and press Tab to expand a complete, field-annotated skeleton.

Dynamic Provider Discovery

The extension discovers available providers by querying the CLI at runtime — no hardcoded provider list. When you run Apply or Import, the extension fetches current provider metadata (including deprecation status and sunset dates) from the CLI. If a provider is deprecated, you see a warning with the recommended replacement and can migrate in one click. Sunset providers are excluded automatically.

Registry Management

Browse and manage resource registries from the command palette or the Resource Explorer sidebar. Five registry commands are available:

• Registry List — show all configured registries
• Registry Add — add a new external registry
• Registry Remove — remove a registry entry
• Registry Prune — clean up stale or invalid entries
• Registry Info — view details for a specific registry

Global Scope

Toggle global scope to include user-level resources from ~/.xcaffold/ in your workspace. When enabled, global resources appear in the Resource Explorer tree and are included in Apply operations. Toggle via the command palette (xcaffold: Toggle Global Scope) or through workspace settings.

CLI Dependency

The extension calls the xcaffold CLI under the hood. xcaffold CLI v0.13.0 or later is required.

The extension communicates with the CLI using structured JSON output (--json flag) for reliable parsing of apply results and provider status. If the CLI version does not support JSON output, the extension falls back to text parsing with reduced functionality.

Install the CLI if you haven't already:

# macOS
brew install saero-ai/tap/xcaffold

# Linux
curl -sSL https://github.com/saero-ai/xcaffold/releases/latest/download/xcaffold_Linux_x86_64.tar.gz | tar -xz && sudo mv xcaffold /usr/local/bin/

# Windows (Scoop)
scoop bucket add saero-ai https://github.com/saero-ai/scoop-bucket.git
scoop install xcaffold

Next Steps

• Getting Started — step-by-step setup walkthrough
• Commands Reference — all commands documented