Plan a VS Code Sweeper agent-ready issue with the maintainer — fetch the sweeper's review record from its state repo, put the review's open decisions to the maintainer, and write a plan file (.sweeper/plans/issue-<n>.md) for them to edit in their editor; it writes no code and ends there — the sweeper-implement skill implements the approved plan. Use ONLY when the request explicitly asks for the sweeper plan — "sweeper-plan", "plan … with the sweeper", a sweeper record or agent-ready issue to plan first. Do NOT use for a plain planning request that doesn't mention the sweeper.
Symbolicate a native VS Code crash dump (.dmp) using electron-minidump. Use when given a crash dump file, asked to symbolicate a crash, resolve missing method names in a native crash backtrace, or attach Electron/Insiders/Stable symbol files. VS Code team members only; requires macOS or Linux.
Use when running unit tests in the VS Code repo. Covers the runTests tool, scripts/test.sh (macOS/Linux) and scripts/test.bat (Windows), and their supported arguments for filtering, globbing, and debugging tests.
Update the committed blocks-ci screenshot hashes after the "Screenshots & Tests" check fails, or investigate a screenshot diff reported on a PR. Use when asked to update, accept, or refresh component screenshot baselines from CI. This skill should be run as a subagent.
VS Code CSS conventions, file organization, class naming, standard sizes, SplitView/Grid layout, scrollable content, responsive layout, and text overflow/ellipsis patterns. Use when writing CSS, building layouts, or fixing text truncation issues.
VS Code theming, color tokens, widget styles, focus indicators, and high-contrast theme support. Use when registering colors, styling widgets with theme tokens, or ensuring HC/focus compliance.
Use when reproducing a UI bug or verifying a fix by driving a real VS Code window end to end and capturing evidence. Writes a scenario file, runs it against a dev build or installed Insiders, and produces a captioned video, per-step screenshots, a Playwright trace, and an HTML report to attach to an issue or pull request.
Use when the user wants to run the vscode.dev server locally and exercise the VS Code workbench or Agents window in the integrated browser against the local `microsoft/vscode` sources. Covers starting the dev server, the `vscode-quality=dev` URL, browser-driven interaction patterns, and optionally wiring up a local mock agent host for the Agents window.
Node runtime service construction is documented separately in node/serviceBootstrapping.md. Host startup timings, process-lifetime correlation, and session workload counts are documented in PERFORMANCE.md. Status: COMPLETE (2026-07-01) All waves A–D and gates G-B1, G-C1, G-C2, G-D1 are done. Codex, Claude, and Copilot all use the unified orchestrator path. Codex advertises multipleChats: { fork: true, sideChat: true }. Model-backed peer, fork, and side-chat parity scenarios run in deterministic replay. The operational chat surface (send/abort/model/agent/history) is fully chat-addressed and uniform across harnesses. Session ownership…
This directory contains the VS Code-facing wrappers around the Agent Host Protocol (AHP) state model. Read this before modifying protocol types. The generated protocol includes the Changesets model: Optional protocol fields are usually backwards-compatible. Add the field in the source protocol repo, sync protocol/**, and add wrapper exports only when VS Code code needs them. Adding a new server-produced action type is backwards-compatible when old clients can ignore it safely. Old clients at the same protocol version ignore unknown action…
This directory customizes the system prompt for Copilot CLI agent host (ahp+cli) sessions. Read this before changing how the system message is built or adding per-model / per-tool guidance. It mirrors the Copilot extension's extensions/copilot/.../prompts/node/agent/ (agentPrompts), but the agent host runs in its own process and cannot use prompt-tsx, so contributors return plain data the SDK accepts directly. Unless the matching chat.agentHost.copilot.modelCapabilityOverrides entry provides a YAML promptOverrideString or promptOverrideFile containing systemPrompt, resolveSystemMessageConfig(model, context) layers, in order: The per-model prompt override…
For tests in this area that touch the SessionDatabase, they MUST use an in-memory database, not a real database file on disk. Use SessionDatabase.open(':memory:') and see the examples from existing tests.
Perform a code review of the current session's changes. Use when the user requests a code review via the Run Code Review button in the Changes toolbar.
Commit staged or unstaged changes with an AI-generated commit message that matches the repository's existing commit style. Use when the user asks to 'commit', 'commit changes', 'create a commit', 'save my work', or 'check in code'.
Generate or modify run commands for the current session. Use when the user wants to set up or update run commands that appear in the session's Run button.
Plain text files in a repository that tell a coding agent how the project works: commands to run, conventions to follow and things to avoid. CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, cursor rules and skills are the common kinds.
CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md?
CLAUDE.md is read by Claude Code. AGENTS.md is an open format that Codex, Cursor and other agents read. Many projects keep one and point the other at it.
What is a skill?
A folder with a SKILL.md that describes one capability, such as filling PDFs or reviewing code. The agent loads it only when the task calls for it.
Can I search my own team's files too?
Your agents already can, over MCP, limited to the files you're allowed to read. Searching them from this page is coming.
MicrosoftSkill