noggin

Quickstart: VS Code

The richest noggin experience. Sidebar tree, drag-and-drop reordering, inline-editable notes, status-bar active-item indicator, and full Copilot Chat integration with both the agent skill and the language-model tools.

1. Install the extension

Open the Marketplace and install Noggin, or run:

ext install davidorn.noggin-vscode

You get a sidebar tree with drag-and-drop, a details pane with inline-editable notes, a status bar item for the active item, the agent skill loaded into Copilot Chat automatically, and language-model tools (#nogginPush, #nogginShow, …) so the agent can call verbs directly without spawning a CLI subprocess. See extension/README.md for the full feature list.

Marketplace blocked or unreachable? (Locked-down corporate network, air-gapped machine, etc.) Grab the .vsix from the matching GitHub Release instead — every release attaches noggin-vscode-<version>.vsix. Install it via the Command Palette (Extensions: Install from VSIX…) or a terminal:

code --install-extension noggin-vscode-<version>.vsix

You won't get Marketplace auto-updates this way — re-download and reinstall the .vsix when you want a newer version.

2. Open or create a noggin

Run Noggin: New from the Command Palette and pick a location. Most people put .noggin.yaml at the root of the workspace they're working in.

The Noggin view appears in the activity bar. If your workspace already has a noggin, it opens automatically.

3. Add your first item

Click the + button in the Noggin view, type a title, hit Enter. That item becomes active (marked with 📍).

The status bar shows the active item title. Click it for a quick "jump to" picker.

4. Add children, drag to reorder

5. Notes

Click an item to open the details pane. Type into the Add note box; press Ctrl+Enter (or Cmd+Enter) to append. Earlier notes are append-only; you can't edit them in place. (That's deliberate — they're a log, not a wiki.)

6. Mark things done

Right-click an item → Mark done, or with the item focused press

Space. Active moves to the parent ("done, what's next?").

7. Use the agent

Open Copilot Chat in the same workspace and just say what you mean:

"Push a side-quest to debug the cache, and remind me where I was"

The agent uses the noggin skill to pick the right verb (#nogginPush), runs it, and shows you the result. See the agent quickstart for more examples.

What you've learned

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