Visual Studio Code
The text editor we recommend for working with your Personal Agentic OS. Free, cross-platform, and pairs beautifully with Claude Code.
What it is
Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a free, open-source code editor made by Microsoft. It shows you a file tree on the left, the file you are editing in the middle, and an integrated terminal at the bottom. For working on your Personal Agentic OS, that layout is ideal: you can see the markdown files your agent creates and updates, and talk to your agent in the terminal at the same time.
Why the workshops use it
When your agent edits a file, you want to see what changed. When your agent creates a new file, you want to find it quickly in the file tree. When you want to run a command, you want the terminal right there. VS Code puts all three in one window.
VS Code is not the only option. Zed, Cursor, and a plain terminal all work. We default to VS Code in the workshops because it is free, cross-platform, and familiar to most people.
Is this safe?
Yes. VS Code is open source and made by Microsoft. You can install it from the official site and it runs locally on your computer. If you want a fully open-source build with no Microsoft telemetry, use VSCodium, a community rebuild of the same source.
Install
Download from code.visualstudio.com.
Or via package manager:
brew install --cask visual-studio-code
winget install Microsoft.VisualStudioCode
Verify
Open VS Code. Go to File > Open Folder, point it at your workspace folder, and the file tree should appear on the left. Open the integrated terminal (Cmd+` on Mac or Ctrl+` on Windows/Linux) and the terminal opens inside VS Code.
Power moves
Three small habits that change how you work alongside your Jarvis.
Preview markdown. When the agent writes or edits a markdown file, hit Cmd+Shift+V (Mac) or Ctrl+Shift+V (Windows/Linux) to open the rendered preview right next to the source. You read what your Jarvis just produced without leaving the editor.
Run multiple Jarvis agents in parallel. Click the + icon at the top of the integrated terminal to spawn a second terminal in the same window. Now one terminal can run a Jarvis working on a strategy doc while another runs a research pass on a different topic. Click + again for a third. Each terminal is its own independent session, so the agents do not step on each other.
Name your terminals by task. Right-click the terminal label in the terminal panel and pick Rename. Type the task: strategy-doc, research-pass, daily-recap. Five terminals deep, you can tell at a glance which Jarvis is doing what.
These three moves apply identically to Cursor, since Cursor is a fork of VS Code.