adom-vscode

A CLI + VS Code extension that lets AI assistants drive VS Code from inside an Adom Docker container — open files, switch modes, paste screenshots, and run any VS Code command via a local HTTP API on port 8821.

The Adom panel — your AI's cockpit inside VS Code

Click the Adom icon in the activity bar to open a side panel with the Overview, Modes, Commands, AI Prompts, and the live Claude Context viewer — every active Claude Code session in the container with token cost and last activity at a glance.

The Extension: About page

Installed in every Adom container. Open the Extensions sidebar and search for adom-vscode — the details pane renders the full quick-start guide, mode reference, and version metadata.

What it does

• Open files in VS Code tabs (images, text, anything)
• Reveal files/folders in the Explorer sidebar
• Preview Markdown files in rendered view
• Search/install VS Code extensions
• Start new Claude Code conversations
• Modes — switch VS Code into different full-screen experiences:
  • claudecode — Claude Code panel UI (graphical AI chat)
  • claudetty — full-screen terminal running the claude CLI
  • tty — generic full-screen terminal with optional auto-command
• Control layout — sidebar, panel, terminal, activity bar (show/hide/toggle)
• Run any VS Code command (generic escape hatch)
• Activity bar icon — Adom icon with accordion sidebar showing commands, AI prompts, and modes
• Paste image into terminal — Ctrl+V an image while focused in a code-server terminal uploads to /tmp/shots/ and pastes the file path (so the CLI Claude Code can ingest it)

Already installed

Adom VS Code ships with every Adom container — you have it on day one. Try it now: ask Claude in any terminal:

"open ne555-timer.kicad_sch"  ·  "switch to Claude Code mode"  ·  "reveal the molecules folder"

To upgrade after a new release lands on the wiki, ask Claude:

"update adom-vscode"

Or run it yourself: adom-wiki pkg update adom-vscode.

Quick start

adom-vscode health                        # Check extension is running
adom-vscode open /path/to/file.png        # Open file in VS Code tab
adom-vscode reveal /path/to/folder/       # Reveal in Explorer sidebar
adom-vscode preview /path/to/README.md    # Markdown preview
adom-vscode claude new                    # New Claude Code chat
adom-vscode sidebar toggle                # Toggle sidebar
adom-vscode panel toggle                  # Toggle bottom panel
adom-vscode terminal new                  # New terminal
adom-vscode activity-bar toggle           # Toggle activity bar
adom-vscode extensions search "python"    # Search extensions
adom-vscode extensions install ms-python.python  # Install by ID
adom-vscode notify "Build complete"       # Toast notification
adom-vscode reload                        # Reload VS Code window
adom-vscode command <any-vscode-command>  # Generic escape hatch
adom-vscode --help                        # All commands

Modes

Modes take over VS Code's full screen for a focused experience. Use mode reset to return to normal.

adom-vscode mode claudecode               # Claude Code panel UI
adom-vscode mode claudetty                # Full-screen terminal + claude CLI
adom-vscode mode tty                      # Blank full-screen terminal
adom-vscode mode tty -c "echo hello" -n "Demo"  # TTY with auto-command
adom-vscode mode reset                    # Exit any mode

URL auto-trigger

Add ?mode=X to any VS Code URL to auto-enter a mode on page load. Perfect for sharing onboarding links with new users.

Example: https://<slug>.adom.cloud/?mode=claudecode&folder=/home/adom/project

Paste-screenshot interceptor

When you press Ctrl+V with an image on the clipboard while focused in a code-server terminal (e.g. running CLI Claude Code), the interceptor uploads the image to the extension at POST /paste-screenshot, which saves it to /tmp/shots/ (deduplicated via SHA-256) and writes the file path back to the terminal so the CLI can ingest it. Without this, code-server returns an empty string for clipboard.readText() when the clipboard holds only an image, so the paste does nothing.

Activity bar

The extension adds an Adom icon to the VS Code activity bar. Click it to open a sidebar with accordion sections:

• Overview — what the extension does
• Modes — Claude Code, TTY modes with "open in new window" and "copy URL" buttons
• Commands — all CLI commands with hover tooltips
• AI Prompts — sample prompts to paste into Claude Code chat

Architecture

Claude Code / scripts / shotlog
    ↓  runs CLI
adom-vscode open /foo/bar.png
    ↓  HTTP POST to localhost:8821
Adom VS Code Extension (inside code-server)
    ↓  vscode.* API
VS Code UI

See ARCHITECTURE.md for the full design document. See COMMANDS.md for all VS Code commands usable with adom-vscode command <id>.

Development

# Build everything locally
bash build.sh

# Release (single binary ships everything)
VERSION=$(cat VERSION | tr -d '[:space:]')
gh release create v${VERSION} \
  cli/target/release/adom-vscode \
  --repo adom-inc/adom-vscode \
  --title "v${VERSION}"

Version

The version lives in VERSION (single source of truth) and flows to:

• extension/package.json
• cli/Cargo.toml
• VSIX manifest (via build.sh)
• Activity bar sidebar footer
• Health endpoint response
• CLI --version flag