3 ms·

Why is it so hard for these to be VSCode extensions and not forks?

by pdntspa 11mo ago

Etheryte 11mo ago
Microsoft has very specific constraints on what extensions can and can't do, it's not a free for all. They're actively defending their mote by allowing Copilot to do things in a way that extensions couldn't. That's why all the serious contenders make a fork, it's simply not possible to have the same integration otherwise.
- tremon 11mo ago
  *moat
- dust42 11mo ago
  Still it would be a lot wiser if all the forkers would do one 'AI-enabled' fork together that exposes all the extras that copilot gets. The barrier for testing would be much lower and all the extension makers would also jump onto the train. Likely MS would finally give in and make all the extras available for everyone. But all the fragmentation only helps MS.
  - ewoodrich 11mo ago
    What exactly are the "extras" that Copilot gets? I've had a Github Copilot subscription from work for 1yr+ and switch between the official Copilot and Roo/Kilo Code from time to time. The official Copilot extension has improved a lot in the last 3-6 months but I can't recall ever seeing Copilot do something that Roo/Kilo can't do, or am I missing something obvious?
    - lozenge 11mo ago
      The Copilot extension uses proposed APIs, meaning it's on an allowlist bundled with VS Code. Roo likely enables these early. The API can stay proposed for years before Microsoft opens it up to third party users.
  - meowface 11mo ago
    They're all going to have quite divergent opinions on how to structure the fork and various other design decisions that would inevitably lead to forks of the fork again. I think forking VS Code is probably the most sensible strategy and I think that will remain the case for many years. Really, I don't think it's changing until AI agents get so ridiculously good that you can vibe code an entire full-featured polished editor in one or a few sessions with an LLM. Then we'll be seeing lots of de novo editors.
- catigula 11mo ago
  Which is a bit odd given that Claude code extension in VSCode is by far the best agent integration into a codebase that I know of.
  - ryandrake 11mo ago
    I don't even know what the Claude Code extension does in vscode. I have it installed but hell if I know what it's doing. I run Claude in one of vscode's terminals, and do everything through there. I do see (sometimes) diffs pop up in the IDE, I guess that's the extent of this integration.
    - siva7 11mo ago
      Thanks, thought i was the only one not getting what the extension is useful for (which i couldn't do easier over the cli)
  - Yeroc 11mo ago
    The Claude Code extension on VS Code does very little (too little in my opinion). The integration level with agentic functionality provided by Antigravity goes much deeper in my 20 minutes or so of playing with it. The biggest value pieces I see is: Agent Manager window which provides a unified view of all my agents running across all my workspaces (!) where I can quickly approve or respond to followup questions and quickly brings me to the code in context for each agent, additionally, I can select a piece of code and comment on it inline and that comment gets sent to the correct, active agent. These two things alone are items which I have been looking for... Too bad I only have approval to use Claude Code at work. This looks promising.
    - catigula 11mo ago
      That’s all very silly and unnecessary in my opinion. Agentic change by change diffs are optimal for a professional.
      - satvikpendem 11mo ago
- dabockster 11mo ago
  This isn't true. I've gotten Claude and its forks to do things the same way as Copilot.
- hs86 11mo ago
  A bit tangential, but I asked the new Gemini model about this, and it immediately traced back this quote to your username: https://gemini.google.com/share/144b46094d6e https://gemini.google.com/share/144b46094d6e Creepy stuff :)
  - satvikpendem 11mo ago
    Because it just searches Google and HN is indexed regularly, nothing really noteworthy. If you copy paste the same quote into Google you get the same thing.
- siva7 11mo ago
  That's the technical reason - the other is strategic and more important: Who controls the app controls the companies depending on it.
- TiredOfLife 11mo ago
  > They're actively defending their mote by allowing Copilot to do things in a way that extensions couldn't That started to change in may. https://code.visualstudio.com/blogs/2025/05/19/openSourceAIEditor https://code.visualstudio.com/blogs/2025/05/19/openSourceAIE... https://code.visualstudio.com/blogs/2025/06/30/openSourceAIEditorFirstMilestone https://code.visualstudio.com/blogs/2025/06/30/openSourceAIE... https://code.visualstudio.com/blogs/2025/11/04/openSourceAIEditorSecondMilestone https://code.visualstudio.com/blogs/2025/11/04/openSourceAIE...

Why is it so hard for these to be VSCode extensions and not forks?

by pdntspa 11mo ago

Why is it so hard for these to be VSCode extensions and not forks?

Microsoft has very specific constraints on what extensions can and can't do, it's not a free for all. They're actively defending their mote by allowing Copilot to do things in a way that extensions couldn't. That's why all the serious contenders make a fork, it's simply not possible to have the same integration otherwise.

tremon 11mo ago
*moat
dust42 11mo ago
Still it would be a lot wiser if all the forkers would do one 'AI-enabled' fork together that exposes all the extras that copilot gets. The barrier for testing would be much lower and all the extension makers would also jump onto the train. Likely MS would finally give in and make all the extras available for everyone. But all the fragmentation only helps MS.
- ewoodrich 11mo ago
  What exactly are the "extras" that Copilot gets? I've had a Github Copilot subscription from work for 1yr+ and switch between the official Copilot and Roo/Kilo Code from time to time. The official Copilot extension has improved a lot in the last 3-6 months but I can't recall ever seeing Copilot do something that Roo/Kilo can't do, or am I missing something obvious?
  - lozenge 11mo ago
    The Copilot extension uses proposed APIs, meaning it's on an allowlist bundled with VS Code. Roo likely enables these early. The API can stay proposed for years before Microsoft opens it up to third party users.
- meowface 11mo ago
  They're all going to have quite divergent opinions on how to structure the fork and various other design decisions that would inevitably lead to forks of the fork again. I think forking VS Code is probably the most sensible strategy and I think that will remain the case for many years. Really, I don't think it's changing until AI agents get so ridiculously good that you can vibe code an entire full-featured polished editor in one or a few sessions with an LLM. Then we'll be seeing lots of de novo editors.
catigula 11mo ago
Which is a bit odd given that Claude code extension in VSCode is by far the best agent integration into a codebase that I know of.
- ryandrake 11mo ago
  I don't even know what the Claude Code extension does in vscode. I have it installed but hell if I know what it's doing. I run Claude in one of vscode's terminals, and do everything through there. I do see (sometimes) diffs pop up in the IDE, I guess that's the extent of this integration.
  - siva7 11mo ago
    Thanks, thought i was the only one not getting what the extension is useful for (which i couldn't do easier over the cli)
- Yeroc 11mo ago
  The Claude Code extension on VS Code does very little (too little in my opinion). The integration level with agentic functionality provided by Antigravity goes much deeper in my 20 minutes or so of playing with it. The biggest value pieces I see is: Agent Manager window which provides a unified view of all my agents running across all my workspaces (!) where I can quickly approve or respond to followup questions and quickly brings me to the code in context for each agent, additionally, I can select a piece of code and comment on it inline and that comment gets sent to the correct, active agent. These two things alone are items which I have been looking for... Too bad I only have approval to use Claude Code at work. This looks promising.
  - catigula 11mo ago
    That’s all very silly and unnecessary in my opinion. Agentic change by change diffs are optimal for a professional.
    - satvikpendem 11mo ago
dabockster 11mo ago
This isn't true. I've gotten Claude and its forks to do things the same way as Copilot.
hs86 11mo ago
A bit tangential, but I asked the new Gemini model about this, and it immediately traced back this quote to your username: https://gemini.google.com/share/144b46094d6e https://gemini.google.com/share/144b46094d6e Creepy stuff :)
- satvikpendem 11mo ago
  Because it just searches Google and HN is indexed regularly, nothing really noteworthy. If you copy paste the same quote into Google you get the same thing.
siva7 11mo ago
That's the technical reason - the other is strategic and more important: Who controls the app controls the companies depending on it.
TiredOfLife 11mo ago
> They're actively defending their mote by allowing Copilot to do things in a way that extensions couldn't That started to change in may. https://code.visualstudio.com/blogs/2025/05/19/openSourceAIEditor https://code.visualstudio.com/blogs/2025/05/19/openSourceAIE... https://code.visualstudio.com/blogs/2025/06/30/openSourceAIEditorFirstMilestone https://code.visualstudio.com/blogs/2025/06/30/openSourceAIE... https://code.visualstudio.com/blogs/2025/11/04/openSourceAIEditorSecondMilestone https://code.visualstudio.com/blogs/2025/11/04/openSourceAIE...