The Oda extension for VS Code

DataMind Oda works inside Visual Studio Code, in a panel beside your code: chat with Oda, let it read and change your workspace with your approval, and review what it proposes in the editor's own diff view. The extension brings its own agent runtime and runs on your computer, so the DataMind Oda desktop app is not needed.

Installing it and what it needs is on Oda in VS Code. This page covers what the extension adds to your editor once it is running.

Oda also runs in Cursor, from the same extension installed from Open VSX: Oda in Cursor.

Start in VS Code

1. Press New Chat at the top right of any editor; each press opens a new chat in its own tab beside your code, working in the folder you have open. The chat also lives in the Activity Bar, as the DataMind Oda view, and in the Secondary Side Bar, as the Oda view. Tabs are named after their chats and come back when VS Code restarts.
2. Sign in when the extension asks: enter your DataMind server address and finish the sign-in in your browser. Extension sign-in and desktop import covers the steps, the messages, and bringing your desktop app data over.
3. Ask for what you need, from a quick question to a change across the workspace. Chat with Oda covers the conversation: models, commands, references and everything else a chat can do.

The chat header

The right end of the chat header carries three round buttons, closely spaced:

• Settings opens the extension's settings in their own tab. Settings in the VS Code panel covers what is inside.
• Past chats opens this workspace's earlier chats, grouped by day. Past chats in VS Code covers opening, renaming and archiving them.
• New chat keeps the far corner and starts a fresh chat.

In a started chat, its actions, such as Download session log and Share…, share a single … menu before the three round buttons.

The panel shows no Open in app button: you are already in the editor.

Built for the editor frame

• The panel keeps no left rail: the sidebar opens as a drawer over the chat, and the right panel opens as a popover. The Oda window, sidebar and panels covers the drawer's behaviour.
• The composer and its chips use compact sizes, sized for the narrow panel.
• The panel follows your editor's theme, switching with it between light and dark.
• VS Code owns the keyboard inside the editor, so the app's own shortcut list stands down. The extension adds three keys: Ctrl Alt O sends your editor selection to the chat, Tab accepts a next-edit suggestion, and Esc dismisses it. Extension commands, settings and limits lists every command, keybinding and setting.

Work in the editor

• File links open in the editor. A file link in a reply opens the file in VS Code, and a link from an edit row opens the change as a diff. The right sidebar never opens a file from the chat.
• Selections and terminal output. Send the lines you select, a terminal command's output, or files you drag in; they arrive in the message box as references. Selections and file references in VS Code covers how.
• Reviews in the diff view. When Oda asks before changing a file, the change opens in VS Code's diff editor, where you accept, reject or edit it. Reviewing proposed changes covers the review.
• Suggestions while you write. Oda can suggest code as you type and offer the next edit after you change something; both features start off. Inline and next-edit suggestions covers turning them on.
• Commit messages. The Source Control view gets a button that writes your commit message from the staged changes, and becomes a stop button while it writes. Commit messages with Oda covers it.
• Your editor's own signals. Oda can check VS Code's Problems panel, and before its file tools read or change a file, the extension saves your open copy of it.

The extension turns on the parts your editor supports, from references and chats in tabs to approvals, copying and opening files and pages. Where a part of the app is not supported in the editor, it simply does not appear, with no error.

When Oda stops

If the extension's background service stops, Oda cannot answer until it runs again. A notification reads DataMind Oda stopped unexpectedly. and offers Restart and Show Details: Restart starts the service again, and Show Details opens the technical report in View > Output > DataMind Oda. DataMind Oda: Restart Background Service from the Command Palette does the same as Restart. If the service cannot start at all, the notice reads DataMind Oda could not start its background service.

Messages from other parts of Oda are in Troubleshooting.

More messages: Fix problems with the Oda extension.

Questions, answered

Where do I open Oda in VS Code?

The chat sits in the Activity Bar, as the DataMind Oda view, and in the Secondary Side Bar, as the Oda view. New Chat at the top right of any editor opens a new chat in its own tab beside your code, working in the folder you have open. Tabs are named after their chats and come back when VS Code restarts.

The panel says DataMind Oda stopped unexpectedly. What do I do?

The extension's background service stopped, so Oda cannot answer until it runs again. Choose Restart in the notification, or run DataMind Oda: Restart Background Service from the Command Palette. Show Details opens the technical report in View > Output > DataMind Oda.

Does the panel follow my editor theme?

Yes. The panel takes its colours from your VS Code theme and follows when you switch between light and dark.

How closely does the panel match my editor theme?

Not exactly. The panel maps the most visible colours and fonts from your VS Code theme onto its own, and parts drawn from colours outside that map keep the app's own colours. Choosing an Appearance in Settings lasts until your next editor theme change.

Can Oda read the errors in my Problems panel?

Yes. Oda can check VS Code's Problems panel, so it can find the errors and warnings your editor reports and fix the right ones.

Can I open the chat in a full editor tab?

Yes. Run DataMind Oda: Open in Editor Tab from the Command Palette and the chat opens in a full tab in the editor area. The New Chat button in an editor's title bar already opens chats in their own tabs.

Why do the app's own shortcuts not work in the panel?

VS Code owns the keyboard inside the editor, so the panel stands the app's shortcut list down. Your keys here are VS Code's own and the extension's: Ctrl Alt O sends your selection to the chat, Tab accepts a next-edit suggestion, and Esc dismisses it. Extension commands, settings and limits lists them all.

Does Oda see my unsaved changes?

Yes. Before Oda's file tools read or change a file, the extension saves your open copy of it, so Oda works with what is on screen. The Autosave setting controls this and is on by default; Extension commands, settings and limits lists it.

If I open a remote, SSH, WSL or container window, does the agent run there?

No. The extension is a local one: in a remote, SSH, WSL or container window, the agent still runs on your own computer.

Where do pages open when Oda uses the browser in VS Code?

In a tab in the editor area, beside your code. On an editor without an integrated browser, Oda uses the installed Edge or Chrome instead. Element picking is not offered there. The browser in Oda covers browsing with Oda, and HTML pages in chat covers the pages it builds.

How does Oda connect through a corporate proxy?

Behind a corporate proxy, the agent uses VS Code's Http: Proxy setting unless your environment already names a proxy. Proxy support covers the settings Oda reads.