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Director-Code

Open Source Intelligent Editor with Three-Layer AI Agent Architecture

Built on VS Code with a Claude Code-like built-in Agent engine, ACP protocol support for external agents, and CLI tool wrapping.
Not just a code editor — an AI workbench for planning, writing, and knowledge management.

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Why Director-Code?

For pure coding, you don't really need a GUI — CLI tools like Claude Code are powerful enough.

But when your work goes beyond coding — planning, writing documents, organizing knowledge bases, reading large amounts of text — you need:

  • A visual workbench with strong AI capabilities — browse file trees, preview docs, compare diffs, search everything
  • An Agent that connects directly to your own LLM — no Copilot subscription, just your API keys or OAuth login
  • An extensible framework that can plug in any Agent implementation — built-in engine, ACP protocol agents, or CLI wrappers

Director-Code is built for this.

Core Feature: Three-Layer Agent Architecture

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                      VS Code Chat UI                         │
│         (File Tree · Doc Preview · Diff View · Search)       │
├────────────┬────────────────────┬────────────────────────────┤
│  Layer 1   │     Layer 2        │       Layer 3              │
│  Built-in  │     ACP Protocol   │       CLI Wrapper          │
│  Agent     │                    │                            │
│ AgentEngine│  External Agent    │  Claude Code / Codex etc.  │
│ Claude Code│  Hot-pluggable     │  spawn + readline          │
│ -like impl │  registerDynamic-  │  Output parsing + editing  │
│            │  Agent unified     │  integration               │
├────────────┴────────────────────┴────────────────────────────┤
│  Anthropic · OpenAI · Gemini · DeepSeek · Any Compatible API │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Layer 1: Built-in Agent Engine

Based on open-agent-sdk architecture, nearly replicating Claude Code capabilities with native VS Code frontend integration:

  • Agentic loop: LLM calls tools → reads results → decides next step → fully autonomous multi-turn execution
  • Streaming output: Real-time text and thinking token display, first token in ~1 second
  • Tool bridge: 9 built-in VS Code tools + MCP tools, read-only concurrent / mutation serial
  • Context management: Auto conversation compaction, prompt-too-long recovery, exponential backoff retry
  • Native integration: Embedded in Chat panel, model picker, editor — not a plugin, a built-in feature

Layer 2: ACP Protocol Extension (In Development)

Hot-pluggable external agents via Agent Client Protocol:

  • Any ACP-compatible agent works like a built-in agent
  • Each external agent registered as a Chat Participant via registerDynamicAgent
  • Shared VS Code tool capabilities (file ops, terminal, permissions)
  • Users freely switch between built-in and external agents in the Chat panel

Layer 3: CLI Wrapper (Planned)

Wrap command-line agent tools into VS Code's visual environment:

  • Claude Code: Wrapped into a graphical interface, retaining its powerful code understanding
  • Codex CLI: spawn + readline line-by-line JSON parsing
  • Other CLI tools: Unified adapter framework for easy integration

Why Not "Just Another AI Code Editor"?

Director-Code is designed not just for coding. It's equally (or more) suited for:

Scenario Why You Need Visual UI
Planning Organize multiple docs in a file tree, compare side-by-side
Writing Markdown live preview, TOC navigation, formatted editing
Knowledge Management Global search across many files, categorized browsing
Reading Long Texts Syntax highlighting, folding, bookmarks, split view
File Organization Drag-and-drop, batch rename, file comparison
Team Collaboration Git integration, change tracking, code review

Supported LLMs

Model Provider Context Notes
Claude Sonnet 4.6 Anthropic 200K Default
Claude Opus 4.6 Anthropic 200K Most capable
Claude Haiku 4.5 Anthropic 200K Fastest
GPT-4o / GPT-4o Mini OpenAI 128K
o3 / o3-mini OpenAI 200K Reasoning
Gemini 2.5 Pro / Flash Google 1M Largest context
DeepSeek Chat / Reasoner OpenAI Compatible 128K Custom Base URL
Qwen Plus OpenAI Compatible 131K Alibaba
Moonshot v1 Auto OpenAI Compatible 128K Kimi
Any model OpenAI/Anthropic Compatible Custom Manual model ID input

5 provider types: Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, OpenAI Compatible, Anthropic Compatible.

Quick Start

Build from Source (Windows)

git clone https://github.com/daxijiu/Director-Code.git
cd Director-Code/vscode
npm install
npm run watch        # Dev mode (incremental)

Configure

  1. Launch Director-Code
  2. Ctrl+Shift+P → "Director Code AI Settings" (or click the gear icon in the Chat panel)
  3. Select your Provider
  4. Enter your API Key and click Save
  5. Open the Chat panel and start chatting

Roadmap

Phase Status Description
Phase 1 Done Agent Engine + 3 Providers + Streaming + Settings UI
Phase 1.5 Done Branding + 5 Providers + Settings UI entry points
Phase 1.5+ In Progress OAuth 2.0 + Dynamic model lists + Per-model config
Phase 2 Planned ACP protocol — external agent integration
Phase 3 Planned CLI wrappers — Claude Code / Codex / Gemini CLI

License

MIT

Acknowledgments