Add hint to enable IDE integration for users running in VS Code (#5610)

packages/cli/src/config/settings.ts

@@ -115,6 +115,9 @@ export interface Settings {
   /// IDE mode setting configured via slash command toggle.
   ideMode?: boolean;
 
+  // Setting to track if the user has seen the IDE integration nudge.
+  hasSeenIdeIntegrationNudge?: boolean;
+
   // Setting for disabling auto-update.
   disableAutoUpdate?: boolean;
 

packages/cli/src/ui/App.test.tsx

@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import {
   SandboxConfig,
   GeminiClient,
   ideContext,
+  type AuthType,
 } from '@google/gemini-cli-core';
 import { LoadedSettings, SettingsFile, Settings } from '../config/settings.js';
 import process from 'node:process';
@@ -84,6 +85,7 @@ interface MockServerConfig {
   getAllGeminiMdFilenames: Mock<() => string[]>;
   getGeminiClient: Mock<() => GeminiClient | undefined>;
   getUserTier: Mock<() => Promise<string | undefined>>;
+  getIdeClient: Mock<() => { getCurrentIde: Mock<() => string | undefined> }>;
 }
 
 // Mock @google/gemini-cli-core and its Config class
@@ -157,6 +159,9 @@ vi.mock('@google/gemini-cli-core', async (importOriginal) => {
         getWorkspaceContext: vi.fn(() => ({
           getDirectories: vi.fn(() => []),
         })),
+        getIdeClient: vi.fn(() => ({
+          getCurrentIde: vi.fn(() => 'vscode'),
+        })),
       };
     });
 
@@ -182,6 +187,7 @@ vi.mock('./hooks/useGeminiStream', () => ({
     submitQuery: vi.fn(),
     initError: null,
     pendingHistoryItems: [],
+    thought: null,
   })),
 }));
 
@@ -233,7 +239,7 @@ vi.mock('./utils/updateCheck.js', () => ({
   checkForUpdates: vi.fn(),
 }));
 
-vi.mock('./config/auth.js', () => ({
+vi.mock('../config/auth.js', () => ({
   validateAuthMethod: vi.fn(),
 }));
 

packages/cli/src/ui/App.tsx

@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ import { EditorSettingsDialog } from './components/EditorSettingsDialog.js';
 import { ShellConfirmationDialog } from './components/ShellConfirmationDialog.js';
 import { Colors } from './colors.js';
 import { loadHierarchicalGeminiMemory } from '../config/config.js';
-import { LoadedSettings } from '../config/settings.js';
+import { LoadedSettings, SettingScope } from '../config/settings.js';
 import { Tips } from './components/Tips.js';
 import { ConsolePatcher } from './utils/ConsolePatcher.js';
 import { registerCleanup } from '../utils/cleanup.js';
@@ -62,6 +62,10 @@ import {
   type IdeContext,
   ideContext,
 } from '@google/gemini-cli-core';
+import {
+  IdeIntegrationNudge,
+  IdeIntegrationNudgeResult,
+} from './IdeIntegrationNudge.js';
 import { validateAuthMethod } from '../config/auth.js';
 import { useLogger } from './hooks/useLogger.js';
 import { StreamingContext } from './contexts/StreamingContext.js';
@@ -115,6 +119,15 @@ const App = ({ config, settings, startupWarnings = [], version }: AppProps) => {
   const nightly = version.includes('nightly');
   const { history, addItem, clearItems, loadHistory } = useHistory();
 
+  const [idePromptAnswered, setIdePromptAnswered] = useState(false);
+  const currentIDE = config.getIdeClient().getCurrentIde();
+  const shouldShowIdePrompt =
+    config.getIdeModeFeature() &&
+    currentIDE &&
+    !config.getIdeMode() &&
+    !settings.merged.hasSeenIdeIntegrationNudge &&
+    !idePromptAnswered;
+
   useEffect(() => {
     const cleanup = setUpdateHandler(addItem, setUpdateInfo);
     return cleanup;
@@ -538,6 +551,27 @@ const App = ({ config, settings, startupWarnings = [], version }: AppProps) => {
     [submitQuery],
   );
 
+  const handleIdePromptComplete = useCallback(
+    (result: IdeIntegrationNudgeResult) => {
+      if (result === 'yes') {
+        handleSlashCommand('/ide install');
+        settings.setValue(
+          SettingScope.User,
+          'hasSeenIdeIntegrationNudge',
+          true,
+        );
+      } else if (result === 'dismiss') {
+        settings.setValue(
+          SettingScope.User,
+          'hasSeenIdeIntegrationNudge',
+          true,
+        );
+      }
+      setIdePromptAnswered(true);
+    },
+    [handleSlashCommand, settings],
+  );
+
   const { handleInput: vimHandleInput } = useVim(buffer, handleFinalSubmit);
   const pendingHistoryItems = [...pendingSlashCommandHistoryItems];
   pendingHistoryItems.push(...pendingGeminiHistoryItems);
@@ -768,6 +802,7 @@ const App = ({ config, settings, startupWarnings = [], version }: AppProps) => {
       </Box>
     );
   }
+
   const mainAreaWidth = Math.floor(terminalWidth * 0.9);
   const debugConsoleMaxHeight = Math.floor(Math.max(terminalHeight * 0.2, 5));
   // Arbitrary threshold to ensure that items in the static area are large
@@ -859,7 +894,13 @@ const App = ({ config, settings, startupWarnings = [], version }: AppProps) => {
             </Box>
           )}
 
-          {shellConfirmationRequest ? (
+          {shouldShowIdePrompt ? (
+            <IdeIntegrationNudge
+              question="Do you want to connect your VS Code editor to Gemini CLI?"
+              description="If you select Yes, we'll install an extension that allows the CLI to access your open files and display diffs directly in VS Code."
+              onComplete={handleIdePromptComplete}
+            />
+          ) : shellConfirmationRequest ? (
             <ShellConfirmationDialog request={shellConfirmationRequest} />
           ) : isThemeDialogOpen ? (
             <Box flexDirection="column">

packages/cli/src/ui/IdeIntegrationNudge.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+/**
+ * @license
+ * Copyright 2025 Google LLC
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ */
+
+import { Box, Text, useInput } from 'ink';
+import {
+  RadioButtonSelect,
+  RadioSelectItem,
+} from './components/shared/RadioButtonSelect.js';
+
+export type IdeIntegrationNudgeResult = 'yes' | 'no' | 'dismiss';
+
+interface IdeIntegrationNudgeProps {
+  question: string;
+  description?: string;
+  onComplete: (result: IdeIntegrationNudgeResult) => void;
+}
+
+export function IdeIntegrationNudge({
+  question,
+  description,
+  onComplete,
+}: IdeIntegrationNudgeProps) {
+  useInput((_input, key) => {
+    if (key.escape) {
+      onComplete('no');
+    }
+  });
+
+  const OPTIONS: Array<RadioSelectItem<IdeIntegrationNudgeResult>> = [
+    {
+      label: 'Yes',
+      value: 'yes',
+    },
+    {
+      label: 'No (esc)',
+      value: 'no',
+    },
+    {
+      label: "No, don't ask again",
+      value: 'dismiss',
+    },
+  ];
+
+  return (
+    <Box
+      flexDirection="column"
+      borderStyle="round"
+      borderColor="yellow"
+      padding={1}
+      width="100%"
+      marginLeft={1}
+    >
+      <Box marginBottom={1} flexDirection="column">
+        <Text>
+          <Text color="yellow">{'> '}</Text>
+          {question}
+        </Text>
+        {description && <Text dimColor>{description}</Text>}
+      </Box>
+      <RadioButtonSelect
+        items={OPTIONS}
+        onSelect={onComplete}
+        isFocused={true}
+      />
+    </Box>
+  );
+}

packages/vscode-ide-companion/package.json

@@ -39,12 +39,12 @@
     "commands": [
       {
         "command": "gemini.diff.accept",
-        "title": "Gemini CLI: Accept Current Diff",
+        "title": "Gemini CLI: Accept Diff",
         "icon": "$(check)"
       },
       {
         "command": "gemini.diff.cancel",
-        "title": "Cancel",
+        "title": "Gemini CLI: Close Diff Editor",
         "icon": "$(close)"
       },
       {

packages/vscode-ide-companion/src/extension.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+/**
+ * @license
+ * Copyright 2025 Google LLC
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ */
+
+import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest';
+import * as vscode from 'vscode';
+import { activate } from './extension.js';
+
+vi.mock('vscode', () => ({
+  window: {
+    createOutputChannel: vi.fn(() => ({
+      appendLine: vi.fn(),
+    })),
+    showInformationMessage: vi.fn(),
+    createTerminal: vi.fn(() => ({
+      show: vi.fn(),
+      sendText: vi.fn(),
+    })),
+  },
+  workspace: {
+    workspaceFolders: [],
+    onDidCloseTextDocument: vi.fn(),
+    registerTextDocumentContentProvider: vi.fn(),
+    onDidChangeWorkspaceFolders: vi.fn(),
+  },
+  commands: {
+    registerCommand: vi.fn(),
+    executeCommand: vi.fn(),
+  },
+  Uri: {
+    joinPath: vi.fn(),
+  },
+  ExtensionMode: {
+    Development: 1,
+    Production: 2,
+  },
+  EventEmitter: vi.fn(() => ({
+    event: vi.fn(),
+    fire: vi.fn(),
+    dispose: vi.fn(),
+  })),
+}));
+
+describe('activate', () => {
+  let context: vscode.ExtensionContext;
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    context = {
+      subscriptions: [],
+      environmentVariableCollection: {
+        replace: vi.fn(),
+      },
+      globalState: {
+        get: vi.fn(),
+        update: vi.fn(),
+      },
+      extensionUri: {
+        fsPath: '/path/to/extension',
+      },
+    } as unknown as vscode.ExtensionContext;
+  });
+
+  afterEach(() => {
+    vi.restoreAllMocks();
+  });
+
+  it('should show the info message on first activation', async () => {
+    const showInformationMessageMock = vi
+      .mocked(vscode.window.showInformationMessage)
+      .mockResolvedValue(undefined as never);
+    vi.mocked(context.globalState.get).mockReturnValue(undefined);
+    await activate(context);
+    expect(showInformationMessageMock).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      'Gemini CLI Companion extension successfully installed. Please restart your terminal to enable full IDE integration.',
+      'Re-launch Gemini CLI',
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('should not show the info message on subsequent activations', async () => {
+    vi.mocked(context.globalState.get).mockReturnValue(true);
+    await activate(context);
+    expect(vscode.window.showInformationMessage).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
+  it('should launch the Gemini CLI when the user clicks the button', async () => {
+    const showInformationMessageMock = vi
+      .mocked(vscode.window.showInformationMessage)
+      .mockResolvedValue('Re-launch Gemini CLI' as never);
+    vi.mocked(context.globalState.get).mockReturnValue(undefined);
+    await activate(context);
+    expect(showInformationMessageMock).toHaveBeenCalled();
+    await new Promise(process.nextTick); // Wait for the promise to resolve
+    expect(vscode.commands.executeCommand).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      'gemini-cli.runGeminiCLI',
+    );
+  });
+});

packages/vscode-ide-companion/src/extension.ts

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import { IDEServer } from './ide-server.js';
 import { DiffContentProvider, DiffManager } from './diff-manager.js';
 import { createLogger } from './utils/logger.js';
 
+const INFO_MESSAGE_SHOWN_KEY = 'geminiCliInfoMessageShown';
 const IDE_WORKSPACE_PATH_ENV_VAR = 'GEMINI_CLI_IDE_WORKSPACE_PATH';
 export const DIFF_SCHEME = 'gemini-diff';
 
@@ -81,6 +82,25 @@ export async function activate(context: vscode.ExtensionContext) {
     log(`Failed to start IDE server: ${message}`);
   }
 
+  if (!context.globalState.get(INFO_MESSAGE_SHOWN_KEY)) {
+    void vscode.window
+      .showInformationMessage(
+        'Gemini CLI Companion extension successfully installed. Please restart your terminal to enable full IDE integration.',
+        'Re-launch Gemini CLI',
+      )
+      .then(
+        (selection) => {
+          if (selection === 'Re-launch Gemini CLI') {
+            void vscode.commands.executeCommand('gemini-cli.runGeminiCLI');
+          }
+        },
+        (err) => {
+          log(`Failed to show information message: ${String(err)}`);
+        },
+      );
+    context.globalState.update(INFO_MESSAGE_SHOWN_KEY, true);
+  }
+
   context.subscriptions.push(
     vscode.workspace.onDidChangeWorkspaceFolders(() => {
       updateWorkspacePath(context);