Day to day

Kraft for VS Code

Install the Kraft extension to clear gates, review a branch's diff, and edit Kraft config files without leaving VS Code.

Install the Kraft extension and end with the board in VS Code's sidebar, where you clear what Kraft is waiting on you for from the editor: approve or reject a gate, review a work item's branch, and edit Kraft's YAML config files with errors flagged as you type.

Before you start

Kraft running on the same machine. kraft admin start holds the terminal; add --detach to run it in the background.
A Kraft of the extension's own major release and at least its minor. Against any other, the extension is read-only: see If the extension is read-only.

Install

Install Kraft (publisher kraft-sdlc) from the VS Code Marketplace, or from Open VSX, the registry VSCodium and Cursor install from. Or search for kraft-sdlc.kraft in the Extensions view.
Optionally, for completion and instant structure checks in config files, install Red Hat YAML. The extension offers it once if it is missing.

Every release also attaches the extension as kraft-<version>.vsix. To install one by hand, download it from the GitHub release and run:

code --install-extension kraft-<version>.vsix

Check it worked

Open the Kraft view in the sidebar: it lists your work items. The status bar shows a check mark beside Kraft while the extension is connected, and Kraft (read-only) when the versions do not match.

Clear a gate

When a gate opens, VS Code shows a notification with Open, Approve and Reject.

Open shows the gate's document in a tab.
Approve and Reject are in that tab's title bar, and on the item in the sidebar.

The item leaves the Needs you group in the sidebar.

Review a branch

Right-click the item in the Kraft view and run Review Changes, or run it from a gate document's title bar. The branch opens in the multi-file diff editor.
Read the findings from the review agents. They show on the lines they name, as a colored bar with the message beside the line, and in the Problems panel.
Add a comment on any line.
Run Submit Review. Your comments go to the agent as one note.

What Submit Review does depends on the item:

The item	What it does
At a gate	Rejects the gate, with your comments as the note.
Paused	Steers the item, with your comments as the note.

Approving instead asks before it discards your comments.

Edit config files

Files under $KRAFT_HOME/config (policy.yaml, harnesses.yaml, chains/*.yaml and the rest) get completion from Kraft's JSON Schemas, and the running Kraft checks each edit and flags the line at fault. On a chain file, Show Resolved Chain previews the chain after inheritance. On save, the extension offers to reload Kraft, or to restart it for files Kraft reads only at startup.

Settings

Setting	What it does
`kraft.url`	Where Kraft listens. Empty reads `KRAFT_HOST` and `KRAFT_PORT`, then `bind` and `port` from `access.yaml`.
`kraft.notifications`	`all`, `gates` or `off`: which states raise a notification.

If the extension is read-only

The extension works with a Kraft of its own major release and at least its minor: the 2.0 extension needs Kraft 2.0 or a later 2.x. Against any other, it turns read-only. The board still updates, every action is disabled, and its status bar item reads Kraft (read-only).

The extension	The server	The fix
2.0	1.4	Upgrade from 1.4.
1.4	2.0	Update the extension.

An extension newer than Kraft

When it connects, it shows a warning that says which to update, and the status bar item's tooltip repeats it: against a 1.4 server, "This extension (2.0.0) needs Kraft 2.0 or later; this server runs 1.4.0. Update Kraft. Actions are disabled until they match."
When you then try an action, it shows "Kraft is read-only: this server's version does not work with this extension. Hover Kraft in the status bar to see which one to update."

VS Code updates the extension on its own, so after a new major release this is what you see until you update Kraft from 1.4.

An extension older than Kraft

The rule holds the other way too: an extension from 1.4, one whose updates are off or that you pinned, is read-only against a 2.0 server. The 1.4 extension has no tooltip and says less. When it connects, it shows "Kraft 2.0.0 does not match this extension (1.4.0); actions are disabled until they match." When you try an action, it shows "Kraft is read-only: the daemon's version does not match this extension." Update the extension as well.

Next steps

Use Kraft from your agent: clear the same gates from an agent session instead of the editor.
Reviewing a change: what comment, approve and request changes do, and the CLI verbs.
The extension's source: the repository's vscode/ directory, to read how it works or to report a bug.

Edit this pageorReport an issue

Raise a cap on a stopped item

Raise the cap that stopped a work item, from the interface or the command line, and retry it from the same place.

Kraft on a phone

The phone layout, with its bottom bar, the board's filters and cards, and the buttons on a stopped item.