Getting started

1. Install

• VS Code: Visual Studio Marketplace, or run code --install-extension devgiordane.openfiles
• Cursor, Windsurf, VSCodium, Antigravity, Kiro: Open VSX. Search “OpenFiles” in the Extensions view.

OpenFiles needs VS Code 1.93 or a fork based on it.

2. Open the walkthrough

Run OpenFiles: Get Started from the Command Palette. It walks through the steps below, and you can skip any of them.

3. Pick a mode

openfiles.mode	What happens when an agent writes a file
open (default)	Opens it in a background tab. Your language servers check it right away.
queue	Lists it in the sidebar only. Most linters won’t check it until you open it.
notify	Shows a notification with an Open button.

4. Connect your agent (optional, recommended)

Run OpenFiles: Install Agent Hooks…, then pick the agents you use. OpenFiles shows a diff of each config file and writes nothing until you confirm.

Hooks give you two things the watcher can’t:

1. Attribution. You know which agent changed which file.
2. Feedback. After each edit, the agent receives the errors your linters found.

Hooks run node, so Node.js must be on your PATH. See the page for your agent: Claude Code, Codex CLI, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Cursor, other agents.

5. Check your linters

Run OpenFiles: Run Doctor. It lists the languages in your repo that have no extension checking them, and links the ones to install. In Cursor, Windsurf and VSCodium it suggests Open VSX alternatives, because Pylance, C# Dev Kit and the Microsoft C/C++ extension aren’t published there.

6. Let the agent work

Ask your agent to change something. You’ll see:

• the changed files open without stealing focus;
• an AI badge on those files in the Explorer;
• the AI Edits view in the OpenFiles sidebar, with a checkbox and problem count per file;
• the status bar item showing unreviewed files, errors and warnings.

Run OpenFiles: Review Next Changed File to go through them. It marks the current file reviewed and opens the next one, with files that have errors first.