Glean Code — VS Code extension(s)

Two VS Code extensions, side by side, against the same glean-code-cli project at ../glean-code-cli. They share the basic shape (sidebar webview, slash commands, keybindings) but differ in how they reach the Glean API.

	Version 1: REPL	Version 2: JSON bridge
What runs in Python	python3 -m glean_code (the full REPL)	python/glean_bridge.py importing glean_code.client
Wire format	Raw stdout/stderr (line-buffered, ANSI-stripped)	Newline-delimited JSON request/response
UI rendering	One scrollback pane, plain text	Structured cards per method (chat, search, status, ...)
Citations / tracking tokens	Lost in the prose	First-class fields, used to wire feedback buttons
Tab completion	N/A — readline disabled because no TTY; webview has its own slash list	Same idea, but suggestions also include each command's summary
Status bar	Not visible (REPL only prints it in TTY mode)	Lives in the panel header; updated on /status, /login, /mode
Survives CLI UI changes	No (column widths, separators, banners are part of the contract)	Yes (the contract is the JSON, not the formatting)
Errors	Mixed in with stdout/stderr text	Per-request id + error field
Effort to add a new command	Add to slash list, hope the CLI's output is parseable	Add a method in glean_bridge.py, render path in webviewProvider.ts

When you'd pick which

• Version 1 is the smaller diff if you treat the CLI as the source of truth and don't want any duplication. It's also the right call if the REPL grows commands frequently and you'd rather just expose them all with no per-command UI work. The cost is brittleness: the moment the CLI's prose changes, the panel changes.
• Version 2 is the right call if you want to actually do anything with the data — build cards, link buttons, route follow-ups, render citations. You're paying the cost of keeping the bridge methods in sync with glean_code.client, in exchange for a real API surface.

Both versions stop short of what Copilot or Claude Code do. They give you a Glean assistant pane (chat + search + admin commands), not inline code completion and not agentic file editing. Those would be different extensions altogether — see the closing notes in version-2-json-bridge/README.md.

Layout

glean-code-vscode-extension/
  README.md                 (this file)
  version-1-repl/           scrape-the-REPL extension
  version-2-json-bridge/    JSON-RPC extension + Python bridge

Prerequisites for both

• Python 3.9+ on PATH (configurable per extension).
• Node 18+ for tsc.
• A clone of glean-code-cli reachable as a sibling directory of this repo, or set gleanCode.cliPath (v1) / gleanCodeBridge.cliPath (v2).
• No Python packages are required — glean_code uses only the standard library, which is the whole point of being able to spawn it cheaply.

Loading either extension

cd version-1-repl   # or version-2-json-bridge
npm install
npm run compile
code .              # then F5 to launch the Extension Development Host

In the development host, look for the Glean Code icon in the activity bar, or press cmd+alt+g / ctrl+alt+g.