07 · Editor Extensions

The pattern (stratum 2)

The AI coding CLI layer deliberately puts agentic work in the terminal. The editor (VS Code) plays a complementary, not primary role:

• Visual diff and merge
• Large refactors across many files
• UI component preview
• Running tests with inline gutter results
• Managing multiple terminal sessions visually alongside the file tree

For this to work, a small set of extensions extends VS Code into a terminal-friendly workspace.

Core editor

VS Code — my primary editor. Reasons: extension ecosystem, integrated terminal, remote SSH extension (useful even with Tailscale direct SSH for some tasks), no license friction.

Alternatives I don’t use but are fine:

• Cursor — IDE-level AI integration. I don’t use it because I want the AI in the terminal for portability, not tied to the editor.
• Neovim / Helix — terminal-native. Great if you prefer terminal everywhere; I use them only occasionally.
• Zed — fast, modern. Watching but not primary.

Extensions I use (and author)

My extensions

Extension	Repo	Purpose
Terminal Workspaces	vscode-terminal-workspaces	Sidebar GUI for managing terminal sessions — tasks.json-syncable, works well with Claude Code / Gemini CLI / Codex CLI
Terminal Image Paste	vscode-terminal-image-paste	Paste clipboard images directly into terminal (alternative path to the Zipline pipeline)

Standard quality-of-life

Category	Extension
Git	GitLens (selective features — it can be noisy)
Markdown	Markdown All in One (shortcuts, TOC)
Editor	Editor Config, Prettier, ESLint (per-project as needed)
Language	Astro, Svelte, Rust Analyzer, Tauri extensions, etc. (per project)
Obsidian-style	”Foam” or vscode-memo if I’m editing my vault in VS Code (rare — Obsidian directly is preferred)

AI-adjacent I intentionally avoid

• Copilot — I’m already paying for Claude; don’t need another AI autocomplete layer. And Copilot’s suggestions often conflict with what Claude Code produces.
• Continue.dev — similar concern; ties AI to editor
• Codeium / Tabnine — same reasoning

If you want editor-level AI, pick one and stick with it. Layering them produces noisy suggestions.

Configuration patterns

settings.json (selected preferences)

{
  "editor.fontFamily": "'JetBrains Mono', 'Menlo', monospace",
  "editor.fontLigatures": true,
  "terminal.integrated.fontFamily": "'JetBrains Mono'",
  "editor.rulers": [100],
  "editor.formatOnSave": true,
  "files.autoSave": "onFocusChange",
  "workbench.colorTheme": "<whatever matches current project theme>",
  "terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.linux": "bash"
}

Workspace (per-project) vs user (global)

• User settings — editor behavior (font, keybindings, auto-save)
• Workspace settings — project-specific formatter config, language-specific behaviors
• .vscode/tasks.json — define claude, gemini, etc. launch tasks per workspace so Terminal Workspaces picks them up

Keybindings I customize

See ../profiles/keybindings/ for my keybinding config files (both VS Code and OpenCode/Zellij variants).

Notable customizations:

• Cmd/Ctrl+` to cycle terminals
• Cmd/Ctrl+K Cmd/Ctrl+L to open a new Claude terminal in the active folder
• Custom layout shortcuts to match my Zellij keybindings so muscle memory carries

When to use the editor vs terminal

Quick heuristic:

Task	Tool
”Rename symbol across codebase”	Editor (VS Code’s refactor tools)
“Explain how this function works / refactor it”	Terminal (Claude Code)
“Review a diff before commit”	Editor (GitLens diff view)
“Run the full test suite”	Terminal (direct test command)
“Find usages of X across project”	Editor (Go to References)
“Research an approach / explore a codebase”	Terminal (Claude Code + Explore agent)
“Merge a conflicted branch”	Editor (3-way merge view)
“Scaffold a new feature end-to-end”	Terminal (Claude Code with task_plan.md)

Integration with the rest of the stack

Alongside	For
01 · AI Coding CLIs	Terminal runs inside editor for agentic work when useful
02 · Terminal	Terminal Workspaces extension manages these sessions visually
06 · Dev Infra	Git, Docker, etc. integrate with VS Code natively

Deep dives

• Terminal Workspaces README
• Terminal Image Paste README