VS Code / Cursor Node Skill

Control a VS Code or Cursor IDE remotely through the OpenClaw Node protocol.

Related

• OpenClaw Node for VS Code — The VS Code/Cursor extension you need to install (required)
• cursor-ide-agent — Combined skill with both CLI and Node paths (install this instead if you also use Cursor CLI)
• Source: github.com/xiaoyaner-home/openclaw-vscode

Prerequisites

• Extension openclaw-node-vscode installed and connected (status bar 🟢)
• Node visible in nodes status
• Commands in Gateway's allowCommands whitelist

Invocation Pattern

nodes invoke --node "<name>" --invokeCommand "<cmd>" --invokeParamsJson '{"key":"val"}'

Both invokeTimeoutMs (Gateway internal) and timeoutMs (HTTP layer, must be larger) are required for long operations.

Timeout guide:

Type	invokeTimeoutMs	timeoutMs
File/editor/lang	15000	20000
Git	30000	35000
Test	60000	65000
Agent plan/ask	180000	185000
Agent run	300000	305000

Command Categories

Category	Prefix	Key Commands	Reference
File	vscode.file.*	read, write, edit, delete	commands/file.md
Directory	vscode.dir.*	list	commands/file.md
Language	vscode.lang.*	definition, references, hover, symbols, rename, codeActions, format	commands/language.md
Editor	vscode.editor.*	active, openFiles, selections	commands/editor.md
Diagnostics	vscode.diagnostics.*	get	commands/editor.md
Git	vscode.git.*	status, diff, log, blame, stage, commit, stash	commands/git.md
Test	vscode.test.*	list, run, results	commands/test-debug.md
Debug	vscode.debug.*	launch, stop, breakpoint, evaluate, stackTrace, variables	commands/test-debug.md
Terminal	vscode.terminal.*	run (disabled by default)	commands/terminal.md
Agent	vscode.agent.*	status, run, setup (Cursor only)	commands/agent.md
Workspace	vscode.workspace.*	info	commands/editor.md

Quick Examples

Read a file

nodes invoke --node "my-vscode" --invokeCommand "vscode.file.read" --invokeParamsJson '{"path":"src/main.ts"}'
→ { content, totalLines, language }

Find all references

nodes invoke --node "my-vscode" --invokeCommand "vscode.lang.references" --invokeParamsJson '{"path":"src/main.ts","line":10,"character":5}'
→ { locations: [{ path, line, character }] }

Git status + commit

nodes invoke --node "my-vscode" --invokeCommand "vscode.git.status"
→ { branch, staged, modified, untracked, ahead, behind }

nodes invoke --node "my-vscode" --invokeCommand "vscode.git.stage" --invokeParamsJson '{"paths":["src/main.ts"]}'
nodes invoke --node "my-vscode" --invokeCommand "vscode.git.commit" --invokeParamsJson '{"message":"fix: resolve type error"}'

Delegate to Cursor Agent

nodes invoke --node "my-vscode" --invokeCommand "vscode.agent.run" --invokeParamsJson '{"prompt":"Add error handling to all API endpoints","mode":"plan"}' --invokeTimeoutMs 180000 --timeoutMs 185000
→ { output, exitCode }

Common Workflows

See references/workflows.md for detailed step-by-step workflows:

• Fix a type error
• Safe cross-file refactor
• Delegate complex task to Cursor Agent

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
node command not allowed	Not in Gateway whitelist	Add to gateway.nodes.allowCommands
node not found	Extension not connected	Check extension status bar
timeout	Operation too long	Increase both timeout params
path traversal blocked	Path outside workspace	Use relative paths only
read-only mode	Extension in read-only	Disable openclaw.readOnly setting

Security

• All paths are relative to workspace root — absolute paths and ../ blocked
• Writes respect readOnly and confirmWrites extension settings
• Terminal disabled by default, whitelist-only when enabled
• Each device has unique Ed25519 identity, must be approved by Gateway