GUI IDE Integration

GUI IDE Integration

The GUI exchanges typed messages with host environments through postMessage-style transport and event bus hooks.

Transport layer

src/hooks/usePostMessage.ts selects one transport at runtime:

• VS Code: window.acquireVsCodeApi().postMessage
• JetBrains: window.postIntellijMessage
• Web fallback: window.postMessage(message, "*")

Host modes

The authoritative host modes are:

• web
• vscode
• jetbrains
• ide

Event bus hooks

• useEventBusForApp listens to window.message and routes IDE-originating actions into Redux.
• useEventBusForIDE builds GUI-originating action objects and sends them through the transport.
• usePostMessage is the transport abstraction.

IDE → GUI events

useEventBusForApp handles these actions/messages from the IDE side:

• updateConfig
• setFileInfo
• setSelectedSnippet
• newChatAction
• ideToolCallResponse

It also dispatches setCurrentProjectInfo and ideSwitchToThread handling in the same listener.

GUI → IDE events

useEventBusForIDE emits these messages outward:

• ideOpenFile
• ideDiffPasteBack
• ideToolCall
• ideNewFile
• ideOpenSettings
• ideOpenHotKeys
• ideOpenChatInNewTab
• ideOpenChatInBrowser
• ideOpenFolderInNewWindow
• ideAnimateFileStart
• ideAnimateFileStop
• ideChatPageChange
• ideEscapeKeyPressed
• ideIsChatStreaming
• ideIsChatReady
• ideForceReloadFileByPath
• ideSetCodeCompletionModel
• ideSetLoginMessage
• ideTaskDone
• ideAskQuestions

Common flow

flowchart LR
  IDE[Host IDE] -- window.message --> App[useEventBusForApp]
  App --> Redux[Redux actions/state]
  Redux --> IDEHooks[useEventBusForIDE]
  IDEHooks -- postMessage --> IDE

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Notes

• useEventBusForApp ensures the chat page is pushed into the navigation stack before opening a new chat or switching threads when needed.
• useEventBusForIDE can resolve a file path before sending ideOpenFile by querying the path API.
• The integration is message-based; no direct IDE SDK dependency is required in the app components themselves.

Related pages

• GUI Architecture
• Chat System