VSCode and VSCode-based editors
Step 1: Install the extension
Install the Symposium extension from:
Step 2: Activate the panel and start chatting
- Activity bar icon — Click to open the Symposium panel
- New tab — Start a new conversation with the current settings
- Settings — Expand to configure agent and extensions
- Agent selector — Choose which agent to use (Claude Code, Gemini CLI, etc.)
- Extensions — Enable MCP servers that add capabilities to your agent
- Add extension — Add custom extensions
- Edit all settings — Access full settings
Custom Agents
The agent selector shows agents from the Symposium registry. To add a custom agent not in the registry, use VS Code settings.
Open Settings (Cmd/Ctrl+,) and search for symposium.agents. Add your custom agent to the JSON array:
"symposium.agents": [
{
"id": "my-custom-agent",
"name": "My Custom Agent",
"distribution": {
"npx": { "package": "@myorg/my-agent" }
}
}
]
Distribution Types
| Type | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|
npx | { "npx": { "package": "@org/pkg" } } | Requires npm/npx installed |
pipx | { "pipx": { "package": "my-agent" } } | Requires pipx installed |
executable | { "executable": { "path": "/usr/local/bin/my-agent" } } | Local binary |
Your custom agent will appear in the agent selector alongside registry agents.