Chat for Claude Code

Provides a graphical chat interface within VS Code's sidebar that maintains multi-turn conversations with Claude, streaming responses in real-time with typing indicators. Messages are processed through Claude's API backend and rendered with syntax highlighting for code blocks, replacing terminal-based interaction patterns with a visual chat UI that persists conversation history and metadata (tokens, cost, performance metrics) within the extension session.

Supports Claude's Edit, MultiEdit, and Write message types that generate or modify code, with an inline diff viewer displaying proposed changes before application. The extension parses Claude's structured responses to identify code modification intents, renders side-by-side or unified diffs within the editor, and provides one-click application or rejection of changes without manual merge conflict resolution.

Extends Chat for Claude Code functionality to Cursor editor and other compatible editors beyond VS Code, using a shared extension architecture that abstracts editor-specific APIs. The extension detects the host editor at runtime and adapts UI rendering, file access, and integration points to match the target editor's capabilities, enabling consistent Claude chat experience across multiple development environments.

Automatically creates Git-based backups at conversation checkpoints, allowing users to restore code to previous conversation states without manual version control commands. The extension leverages Git's underlying storage to maintain a history of code states tied to conversation turns, enabling non-destructive exploration of multiple Claude-generated solutions and rollback to any prior state within the conversation.

Allows users to reference project files, attach images via paste or file picker with thumbnail preview, and inject custom commands into chat messages, enriching Claude's context with diverse input types. The extension parses file references in chat text, handles image attachment metadata, and passes structured context to Claude's API, enabling multi-modal reasoning about code and visual assets within a single conversation turn.

Integrates Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers for extending Claude's capabilities, with support for both add-mcp curated and official Anthropic registries. Configuration is stored at project-level (`.mcp.json`) or global scope (`~/.claude.json`), with OAuth authentication support for MCP servers requiring user credentials. The extension parses MCP server configurations, manages authentication flows, and passes MCP-exposed tools to Claude for function calling.

Integrates with a skills marketplace (skills.sh) to discover, install, and manage reusable Claude skills at project-level (`.claude/skills/`) or global scope. Skills are stored as files or modules that extend Claude's capabilities with domain-specific knowledge or workflows, and the extension manages skill discovery, installation, and injection into chat context without requiring manual skill file management.

Integrates with a plugin marketplace to discover and install plugins that extend the Chat for Claude Code extension itself, enabling third-party developers to add new UI components, integrations, or workflows. Plugins are managed through a marketplace interface and installed into the extension's runtime, augmenting the chat interface and context injection capabilities without requiring extension source code modification.

Provides one-click copy buttons for entire chat messages and individual code blocks, integrating with the OS clipboard to enable rapid message sharing and code extraction. The extension renders copy icons adjacent to messages and code blocks, and clicking triggers clipboard write operations without requiring manual text selection or copy commands.

Tracks and displays conversation-level metadata including token usage, estimated cost, and response latency for each message, providing visibility into API consumption and performance. The extension collects metrics from Claude's API responses, aggregates them at the conversation level, and renders summaries in the chat UI, enabling users to monitor resource usage and optimize prompt engineering.

Renders a dedicated chat panel in the VS Code sidebar that maintains conversation history across editor sessions, allowing users to resume conversations and reference prior messages without terminal context switching. The extension manages conversation state in memory or persistent storage (mechanism unknown), renders messages with syntax highlighting and formatting, and provides navigation between conversation turns.