cv4vs-run

name	cv4vs-run
description	Build, compile and drive cv4vs-agents, the Visual Studio 2022 (VSIX) extension for Claude Code. Use when asked to "run", "build", "compile", "launch", "test" or "screenshot" the extension, the chat WebView, or to drive claude.exe's control protocol. Verified surfaces: WebView build (TypeScript+Lit), VSIX build (MSBuild), CLI drive via probe.

Run cv4vs-agents

A Visual Studio 2022 extension (VSIX, C#/.NET Framework 4.8) that brings the Claude Code CLI inside the IDE. The real UI (the Chat/CLI tool windows) lives inside a VS instance and is not headless-launchable: only a human can open the experimental VS (devenv /rootsuffix Exp) and see it. What you can drive from the command line — and what most changes actually touch — are three surfaces:

1. WebView (TypeScript + Lit, in Chat/WebViewSrc/) → typecheck + esbuild bundle.
2. VSIX (the whole solution) → restore + build via MSBuild.
3. Control protocol → drive the real claude.exe with the same stream-json flags as ClaudeClient.cs, via tools/cli-probe/probe.mjs.

The driver.mjs wraps all three. Paths here are relative to the repo root.

Environment: Windows (not Linux). Requires VS 2022/2026 with the VSSDK workload, Node, and claude.exe installed via npm (@anthropic-ai/claude-code). Every command below was run in this session on this machine.

Prerequisites

• Visual Studio 2022/2026 with the MSBuild component + VSSDK (Visual Studio extension development). Verified present: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\18\Professional.
• Node (verified v24) + npm.
• claude.exe installed via npm, at %APPDATA%\npm\node_modules\@anthropic-ai\claude-code\bin\claude.exe. Check: which claude.

No apt-get: this is Windows — dependencies are Windows installers + npm.

Run (agent path) — the driver

# Everything in sequence: WebView + VSIX + probe init
node .claude/skills/cv4vs-run/driver.mjs all

# Individual surfaces:
node .claude/skills/cv4vs-run/driver.mjs webview        # typecheck + build WebView → dist/bundle.js
node .claude/skills/cv4vs-run/driver.mjs vsix           # restore + build VSIX (MSBuild)
node .claude/skills/cv4vs-run/driver.mjs probe init     # drive claude.exe: dump system/init
node .claude/skills/cv4vs-run/driver.mjs probe get_settings   # any control_request

Expected output:

• webview → ✓ dist/bundle.js produced (bundle ~1.6mb).
• vsix → Errors: 0 + ✓ VSIX produced: …\bin\Debug\Corsinvest.VisualStudio.Agents.vsix.
• probe init → the system/init JSON (model, tools, slash_commands…) — the same payload ClaudeClient parses when the chat starts.

The driver auto-detects MSBuild via vswhere; override with env MSBUILD=<path> if needed.

Driving the CLI directly (without the driver)

The probe is how you test the control protocol the chat uses (set_model, get_settings, get_context_usage, and any control_request). It must be launched with the right entrypoint, otherwise init is reduced (no Fable / unavailable_models):

cd tools/cli-probe
CLAUDE_CODE_ENTRYPOINT=claude-vscode node probe.mjs init
CLAUDE_CODE_ENTRYPOINT=claude-vscode node probe.mjs get_settings

See tools/cli-probe/README.md for all subtypes and env vars (CLAUDE_CLI, PROBE_CWD, PROBE_TIMEOUT_MS).

WebView only (fast iteration)

cd src/Corsinvest.VisualStudio.Agents/Chat/WebViewSrc
npm run dev        # esbuild --watch — rebuilds dist/bundle.js on every save

Run (human path) — the extension inside VS

Actually seeing the tool windows needs human hands (not automatable in this container):

1. Open the solution in VS, press F5 → launches a second VS (devenv /rootsuffix Exp) with the extension loaded (already configured as StartProgram/StartArguments in the .csproj).
2. In the experimental VS: open a solution, then the chat tool window from the menu.

Headless this is useless: no window, no screenshot.

Gotchas

• Not Linux. The README/CLAUDE.md are written for Windows; here the shell is MINGW64/MSYS (git-bash) but the toolchain is Windows (MSBuild, devenv, claude.exe).
• MSBuild has spaces in its path. C:\Program Files\…\MSBuild.exe launched with shell:true breaks on "Program" ('C:\Program' is not recognized…). The driver launches it with shell:false on purpose; if you write your own spawns, do the same or quote the path. (npm/node instead need shell:true because they're .cmd.)
• CLAUDE_CODE_ENTRYPOINT=claude-vscode is mandatory when driving claude.exe the way the extension does: without it, init comes back reduced. The driver sets it itself in the probe subcommand.
• New .cs files must be added by hand to the <Compile> items in the .csproj (explicit list, no glob). A new .cs compiles in VS via other paths but may not make it into the MSBuild VSIX.
• bridge-messages.ts is generated from Host/BridgeMessages.cs (gen-bridge, part of npm run build). Do not edit it by hand: it gets overwritten. The build prints the count (e.g. 21 fromWebView + 30 toWebView = 51 messages).
• Many VSTHRD warnings in the VSIX build (vs-threading analyzers, ~100): they're known and harmless — Errors: 0 is the line that matters. The driver uses -clp:ErrorsOnly;Summary to keep them from drowning the output.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
'C:\Program' is not recognized… launching MSBuild	Path with spaces + shell:true. Use shell:false or quote. The driver already does.
MSBuild not found from the driver	The VS MSBuild component is missing, or vswhere can't find it. Set MSBUILD=<path to MSBuild.exe>.
probe: init without Fable / unavailable_models	Missing CLAUDE_CODE_ENTRYPOINT=claude-vscode.
probe times out	Raise PROBE_TIMEOUT_MS (default 25000); check which claude.
WebView: type errors	npm run typecheck for detail; the build minifies and doesn't always show the spot.