Connect Your IDE to Kimchi

This guide explains how to connect your IDE to Kimchi Coding so the agent can see your editor context — your current file, selected code, and diagnostics — and act on it directly.

Once connected, you can select a block of code, click Send to Kimchi, and the agent receives it as part of your next prompt — no copy-pasting required.

Before you start

Before connecting your IDE, ensure you have:

Kimchi installed and running (kimchi launches without errors). See Getting Started if you haven't set it up yet.
A supported IDE: JetBrains (IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm, GoLand, or any other JetBrains IDE) or VS Code.

Connect your JetBrains IDE

Install the Kimchi plugin

Open your JetBrains IDE and go to Settings → Plugins.

Search for Kimchi in the Marketplace tab and click Install.

Restart your IDE when prompted.

Open a project

Open any project. The plugin starts automatically and connects to Kimchi in the background — no further configuration is needed.

Once connected, a Kimchi status indicator appears in the IDE status bar.

Connect VS Code

Install the Kimchi extension

Open VS Code and go to the Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X / Cmd+Shift+X).

Search for Kimchi and click Install.

Reload and open a project

Reload the window when prompted. The extension activates automatically when you open a project.

Use your IDE context in Kimchi

Once the plugin is active, your IDE and Kimchi share context automatically.

Send a selection to Kimchi

Select code in your editor

Highlight any code you want to discuss or change.

Send it to Kimchi

Right-click and choose Send to Kimchi, or use the keyboard shortcut shown in the plugin menu.

The selection appears in your Kimchi prompt as @/path/to/file.ts:42-58. The agent reads the referenced lines before responding.

Add your instruction and submit

Add your question or instruction and press Enter.

Reference your current file

The agent is always aware of what file you have open and where your cursor is. You can refer to it naturally in your prompt — for example: "explain the function at my cursor" or "add error handling to this method".

View diagnostics in context

The agent can read LSP errors and warnings from your IDE. If your editor is showing a red squiggle, ask the agent about it directly: "fix the error on line 42".

Troubleshooting

The status bar shows the plugin as disconnected.
Make sure Kimchi is running (kimchi in a terminal). The plugin reconnects automatically within a few seconds once the harness is active.

"Send to Kimchi" is greyed out.
The plugin needs an active Kimchi session. Launch kimchi first, then retry.

The selection doesn't appear in my prompt.
Check that you selected the text before right-clicking. Clicking alone (no selection) sends only the cursor position.