Chat Interface

Chat Interface

The Todd of AIDLC chat is designed like Cursor: messages on top, composer at the bottom, provider pills below the input.

This is where you switch AI providers without leaving VS Code — Copilot, Claude, Cursor, Devin, Kiro, or Auto — while keeping the same context chips and (for Copilot) Spec+Agent mode. See Why Todd of AIDLC.

Layout

┌─────────────────────────────┐
│  Messages (scroll)          │
├─────────────────────────────┤
│  + New chat | Clear context │
│  [ context chips ]          │
│  ┌───────────────────── ↑ ┐ │
│  │ Ask anything…        │ │
│  └───────────────────────┘ │
│  Ask | Agent | Spec+Agent │
│  Copilot | Claude | …  ⚙  │
└─────────────────────────────┘

Composer actions

Button	Action
+ New chat	Clears conversation history, new session ID, clears input
Clear context	Removes all context files and clears the input text
↑	Send (Ctrl+Enter). Becomes ■ while streaming (stop)

Provider pills (bottom)

Click a provider to switch: Auto, Copilot, Devin, Cursor, Claude, Kiro.

Auto (default) lets Todd of AIDLC pick the best provider per message — see Auto Routing.

The selected pill is highlighted. Changing provider applies to the next message.

Mode pills

Mode	Description
Ask	Conversational Q&A (Copilot SSE streaming)
Agent	Autonomous tool loop (read/write files)
Spec+Agent	Agent + active Spec YAML as system context

Copilot modes only apply when Copilot is selected. See Copilot Modes.

File references

When the agent mentions files like `src/app.ts:42`, they appear as clickable links. Click to open the file at that line in the editor.

Context chips also open files on click (× removes from context).

Slash commands

Command	Effect
/clear	Clear conversation (webview only)
/agent copilot	Switch provider

Output trace

View → Output → Todd of AIDLC — full IPC trace (secrets redacted). Use for debugging daemon issues.