Streaming Markdown, session history, diffs and Manual, Accept Edits, Plan and Auto modes.
PUBLIC WORK / CLAUDE CODE VS
Claude Code. Inside Visual Studio.
A native Visual Studio integration for Claude Code: WPF sidebar, planning, diffs, code context, IDE automation, debugging and Remote Control. Claude Code remains the agent; the extension gives it access to the real Visual Studio environment.
What problem does it solve?
Claude Code is an agent that can be used from a CLI, but Visual Studio contains information and capabilities a normal terminal cannot see: the native diff viewer, Error List, projects and solution structure, the active document, debugger state, call stack, locals and the running application.
This extension connects Claude Code to that environment. Instead of copying code and diagnostics into a terminal, the agent can use IDE context and operate on the real project.
The extension does not reimplement the model or become a separate agent. Claude Code does the agent work out of process, while the integration exposes Visual Studio capabilities through the Agent Client Protocol and IDE-control tools.
What do you get inside Visual Studio?
An implementation plan opens as a document. You can approve it or send it back with comments before implementation starts.
Every file changed by the session can be opened, accepted or rejected individually or in bulk.
The active document, multiple documents, selections and images can be attached without manually copying content.
Open and activate documents, add files to projects, work with the solution, build/rebuild/clean, read Error List and Output, and run DTE commands.
Breakpoints, start debugging, wait for a break, call stack, locals, expression evaluation, stepping, continue and stop.
While debugging, the agent can use UI Automation to inspect windows, click buttons, toggle checkboxes, type text and capture screenshots.
Drive the same session from claude.ai/code when Remote Control is enabled.
Workspace sessions, conversation title, elapsed time, token usage, activity and context state are visible in the panel.
When Visual Studio is in the background, notifications can signal completion, permission requests or a plan waiting for review.
What does the workflow look like?
Open the solution and launch Claude Code from the Visual Studio panel. Add context when needed and describe the task as you would in a normal Claude Code session.
In Plan mode, the implementation plan is shown as a document before implementation. Once the agent edits files, changes appear in the Changed Files and diff workflow.
After editing, the agent can build the solution, read real Error List diagnostics, start the debugger and inspect runtime state. The loop therefore can cover implementation, compilation, diagnosis and another correction instead of stopping at a generated patch.
Permissions and security.
Permission requests remain interactive. Manual mode asks before actions that require approval; Accept Edits and Auto deliberately widen automation.
The extension reuses the existing Claude Code login. It does not create a separate Visual Studio sign-in flow or take over credentials inside the extension process.
Sessions can contain source code, unsaved edits, file paths, images and tool results. What is sent to the configured model provider should therefore be treated as part of the environment's trust boundary.
Requirements and important limitations.
The extension requires Visual Studio 2022 or 2026, the .NET 8 Runtime component in the Visual Studio installation, Node.js 22+ and an authenticated Claude Code CLI. Full VSIX builds and packaging require Windows and Visual Studio with the extension-development workload.
Claude Code remains the actual agent. Capabilities depend on the ACP adapter and the capabilities it advertises; this page should not imply automatic feature parity with every version of the official Claude Code integrations.
F5 launches a separate Visual Studio Experimental Instance. Building the extension does not update the regular Visual Studio installation; a rebuilt VSIX must be installed for normal use.