Build with OxCode

Overview

OxCode works step by step, asks before risky actions, and keeps your project history close at hand, so the editor chat becomes your main surface for real engineering work.

Use it for feature work, bug fixes, refactors, code review, test runs, build verification, and project exploration. Like GitHub Copilot or Codex it lives in your editor, but its main surface is a full editor chat with persistent sessions, context controls, command approvals, and local project memory.

Benchmarks

OxCode has 6,900+ downloads. The OxCode evaluation repository publishes these single-attempt CLI evaluation runs:

• Terminal-Bench 2.1: One attempt per task, the benchmark's standard network setup, graded by each task's tests.
• SWE-bench Verified: Closed book, one attempt per instance, graded by the official SWE-bench harness.

These are published OxCode CLI development-build runs. The Terminal-Bench run uses one attempt per task, rather than the multi-attempt average used by its public leaderboard. Follow the result links for the reports, run conditions, and limitations.

Install

Install OxCode - AI Software Engineer from the Visual Studio Code Marketplace for VS Code, or from Open VSX for compatible VS Code-based IDEs like Cursor, VSCodium, and Antigravity. OxCode has 6,900+ downloads and uses the hosted OxCode.ai gateway, so you never build the source, run a backend, or manage provider API keys.

Install in Cursor

OxCode runs in Cursor’s classic IDE window, not its Agents Window. An extension link opened in the Agents Window can fail with an activeEditor error.

1. In Cursor, choose File > Open IDE or Open Editor Window, depending on your version.
2. Open Extensions in that window and search for @id:oxloai.oxcode-ai.
3. Select OxCode - AI Software Engineer and choose Install.

If Cursor’s registry does not show OxCode, download its VSIX from Open VSX. In the IDE window, run Extensions: Install from VSIX... from the Command Palette and select the downloaded file.

Sign in

Open the OxCode panel from the Activity Bar and choose Sign up or Sign in. OxCode opens oxcode.ai in your browser, you sign in there, and your editor signs itself in. Your session is stored in VS Code SecretStorage, never in a file.

Open chat

Run OxCode: Open Chat from the Command Palette, use the editor-title action, or continue a saved session, then describe the task. The composer supports attached files, the active file, selected code, terminal output, slash commands, and mode selection.

# try prompts like:
Review this project and explain the main architecture.
Fix the TypeScript errors in the current file.
Add a health check endpoint and run the relevant tests.
/debug diagnose why this command is failing.
/security review this API route for risky patterns.

Sessions

Conversations are saved per workspace in the Sessions view, where you can search, rename, reopen, or delete them. Sessions are redacted before being written to disk so secrets never land in local history, and recent sessions help the next task start warm instead of cold.

Saved workspace conversations, independent sidebar and editor-tab chats, and queued follow-up messages that can be steered, edited, removed, or reordered while a task runs.

Agent workflow

Works through a task in one conversation: explores the codebase, edits files, runs approved commands, tests, debugs, and verifies the result before finishing.

• Plan first: Plan mode reads without changing files. Press Go to carry the plan into Agent mode.
• Live execution: command rows show recent output, with longer logs available when needed.
• Verification: OxCode uses diagnostics, tests, builds, and command checks when relevant.
• Recovery: Retry and Continue controls let interrupted work resume.

Modes

Dev Mode is live in VS Code and compatible VS Code-based IDEs through Open VSX, with Agent mode and Plan mode. Vibe Mode, standalone Teach Mode, voice input, and native-language input are coming soon.

/teach is available as a slash command for one message; it is separate from the planned standalone Teach Mode.

Skills

A skill is a set of instructions that shapes how OxCode approaches a particular kind of work, such as reviewing code, designing an API, or teaching. It reaches every stage of a run, so the plan is written differently, not just the final answer.

Choose a skill yourself, or turn on Auto skill to let OxCode select an installed skill when it matches your request. Automatic selection is off by default. You can install more from our catalogue or from a third-party source.

Open OxCode: Skills and Plugins from the Command Palette to see what you have installed. One skill is active at a time.

Read the Skills guide for installing, third-party sources, and writing your own.

Command approval

Manual, Edit automatically, and Full access permission levels, with session or persistent command approvals. Actions outside the workspace and commands that send files out still require approval; image generation also asks for permission. When a command needs review you can run it, decline it, allow it for this session, or always allow its command pattern for the workspace.

Memory

OxCode keeps durable project knowledge in local notes. Project memory lives in .oxcode-memory/ inside the current project and global memory lives under ~/.oxcode/global, both as local Markdown notes you can read and edit.

The Memory panel is hidden by default. Enable oxcode.memory.showPanel to show it; OxCode: Clear All Memory remains available from the Command Palette.

Import context

Bring history from other tools into OxCode’s memory so a new project starts with what you already know.

• Import sessions from Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, or Antigravity into local memory.
• Use @file mentions when a task depends on a specific file.
• Use Send Selection to Chat for focused changes in the editor.
• Use Send to OxCode from the terminal, or ask OxCode to read recent terminal output.

Commands and settings

The Command Palette exposes Open Chat, Sign In, Sign Out, Clear Chat, Switch Mode, Send Selection, Send to OxCode, the memory commands, and context import. Default shortcuts: Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + O sends the editor selection and Ctrl/Cmd + Alt + Shift + O sends terminal output.

OxCode uses the hosted gateway by default. Advanced settings control memory visibility, approval sounds, and anonymous telemetry counters. Server and website addresses are read only from your own user settings, not from a project's settings.

Privacy and security

To fulfil a task, OxCode can send the prompt, active-file context, selected code, diagnostics, explicitly attached terminal output, files read by tools, and tool results through the hosted gateway so the selected model can help. Anonymous orchestration telemetry contains event names and counters only, never prompts, code, or file paths.

Troubleshooting

If OxCode has no project context, open a folder in your editor before sending a task. It operates on the current workspace folder, and file mentions only resolve inside it. If sign-in does not finish, go back to the OxCode panel and press Sign in again.