Grok Build for VS Code

Grok Build for VS Code (Community) is a free community extension that runs the Grok Build coding agent inside VS Code, Cursor, and Antigravity. Instead of the terminal UI, you get sidebar chat, native diff previews, permission cards, parallel sessions, and a live model picker with Grok 4.6. The official CLI stays the engine. The extension is the interface.

I built it and maintain it. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by SpaceXAI (formerly xAI).

At a Glance

Last updated: August 12, 2026.

Three Names, Three Things

People mix these up, so one paragraph of disambiguation. Grok 4.6 is the model (SpaceXAI’s flagship for code since August 12, 2026, and what Grok Build starts on). Grok Build is the CLI coding agent that plans, edits files, runs commands, and uses MCP servers. This extension is a GUI for that agent inside your editor. You need Grok Build, the CLI, for agentic coding with either of the others, and the extension installs it for you.

What It Does

The core loop:

• Sidebar chat with streaming responses and optional reasoning traces

• Native diff previews before any file edit is approved

• Permission cards for every write and shell command

• Plan Mode that blocks workspace writes until you approve the plan

• Auto-accept mode with an expandable audit trail when you want speed

Sessions:

• Multiple sessions in parallel with background execution

• Agent dashboard with status dots (working, awaiting input, unread results)

• Searchable history across 100+ past conversations, with resume and rename

• Worktree sessions that run in an isolated copy of the repo, plus Rewind to step a conversation back to an earlier point

• Fork a conversation, and queue or steer a running turn without killing it

Projects:

• The projects rail: every project and its recent conversations side by side, under its own Projects icon in the activity bar

• Pinned and Recent groups across all projects; a project idle for a month files itself under Archived and comes back the moment you work in it

• Open or start a conversation in any project without switching your VS Code window; per-project colors sync to the phone client

Context:

• @file chips from the Explorer or drag and drop, Alt+G for the active file

• Vision input: paste or attach screenshots and images up to 20 MiB

• Voice dictation with live transcription (separate xAI Speech-to-Text key, roughly $0.10 to $0.20 per hour)

Models and cost:

• Live model switching, Grok 4.6 and 4.5 included. API-key users also get the wider grok-4.x family and grok-imagine

• Reasoning effort control from none to xhigh

• Context-token donut and /compact for long sessions

Output:

• /imagine and /imagine-video render inline

• LaTeX via MathJax, Mermaid diagrams rendered offline and theme-aware

Plumbing:

• MCP servers: whatever the CLI is configured with, the extension uses

• Slash commands autocomplete in the composer, sourced live from the CLI

• 70+ settings, from grok.defaultModel to grok.chatFontScale

• Remote control through AFK Pilot: watch, approve, and steer from a phone, browse the project’s files, and open, edit and save a text file remotely

Install in Five Minutes

1. Open Extensions (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+X) in VS Code or Cursor.

2. Search “Grok Build for VS Code (Community)” and install.

3. Press Ctrl/Cmd+; to open the sidebar.

4. The setup wizard installs the grok CLI if needed and signs you in. Any X or Grok account works to try it, with usage limits; SuperGrok, X Premium+, or an xAI API key for sustained use.

Install: VS Code Marketplace · Open VSX Registry · Source: GitHub

If your goal is specifically the new model, the short version lives here: How to Use Grok 4.6 in VS Code.

Privacy

No message content, no code, no file paths, and no account identity leave your machine through the extension. Your prompts go where they always go: through the official Grok CLI to xAI. The extension adds only anonymous, opt-out usage telemetry (grok.telemetry.enabled: false turns it off, and VS Code’s global telemetry setting is respected).

How It Compares

Terminal launchers open the same TUI in a split pane. This extension replaces the TUI with native editor UI. Generic Grok chat extensions answer questions about code via the API but don’t run the agent, so no autonomous edits and no diffs. Zed and T3 Code are full ACP clients for the same CLI in their own right. The full landscape: Does Grok Build have a GUI?

If you do not want an editor in the picture at all, the same agent ships as a standalone app: Grok Build Desktop (Community), free for Windows and macOS.

FAQ

Is there an official xAI VS Code extension? No. SpaceXAI (formerly xAI) does not publish a first-party VS Code extension. It ships the Grok Build CLI, which is itself open source (github.com/xai-org/grok-build), a terminal UI, and the Agent Client Protocol for third-party interfaces. This extension is an independent community project built on that protocol.

Is it free? The extension is free to install, and its source is public under FSL-1.1-MIT (Fair Source), which converts each release to plain MIT two years after it ships. The agent underneath is free to try with usage limits on any X or Grok account; sustained use needs SuperGrok, X Premium+, or an xAI API key.

What’s the difference between the Grok Build CLI and this extension? The CLI is the agent: sessions, memory, models, MCP, tool execution. The extension is the interface: chat, diffs, approvals, session UI. The extension requires the CLI and installs it for you.

Does it work with Cursor and Antigravity? Yes. Cursor 3.x and Antigravity 2.1.1+ both run it, alongside VS Code 1.106+. Antigravity 2.0.x had a version-reporting bug that made it reject extensions with a “not compatible with Code 2.0.6” error; Google fixed it in 2.1.1, so update Antigravity first if you see that.

How is this different from Kilo Code? Kilo Code is a multi-provider agent extension that can call Grok models through the API, alongside other providers. This extension is the GUI for the official Grok Build CLI: the agent loop, the memory, the MCP servers, and your SuperGrok or X Premium+ plan are the official stack, and the interface is the only community part.

Can I use this without VS Code? Yes, but not this extension. Grok Build Desktop (Community) is a separate standalone app for Windows and macOS that runs the same agent with no editor installed. It is free, and it shares conversation history with the extension under ~/.grok. Full detail: Grok Build Desktop.

Is it safe to use on a real codebase? Every file edit and shell command shows a permission card before it runs, Plan Mode gates work behind an approved plan, and the source is public if you want to check what the extension itself does.

Does it support Grok 4.6? Yes. Grok 4.6 is what a fresh install starts on, and the model picker switches live, so Grok 4.5 stays one click away. Setup guide: How to Use Grok 4.6 in VS Code.

Can I use it from my phone? Yes, through the AFK Pilot companion client, including browsing the project’s files and editing text files from the phone. Setup: Grok Remote Control.

Where do I report bugs? GitHub issues on the repo.

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I build this extension in the open and write up what it teaches me. The newsletter is the other half: what changes about product work once agents do the building.