VS Code Extension

The Checkpoint extension adds Checkpoint to Visual Studio Code's Source Control view, so you can stage, check out, diff, submit, and pull without leaving the editor.

Requirements

• VS Code 1.96 or newer.
• The Checkpoint daemon running on the same machine. Installing the desktop app takes care of this.
• A workspace created with the desktop app, the CLI (chk init), or the Unreal plugin. Open the workspace folder (or any folder inside it) in VS Code. The extension recognizes a Checkpoint workspace by its .checkpoint/workspace.json file.

Install

Release builds are published to the Visual Studio Marketplace and to Open VSX (where editors built on VS Code, such as Cursor, VSCodium, and Windsurf, get their extensions). Search the Extensions view for Checkpoint by Incanta, or install it by ID:

code --install-extension incanta.checkpoint-vscode

Each GitHub Release also has the extension attached as a .vsix file. Install a downloaded .vsix with:

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

tip

Nightly builds of the extension are only available as a .vsix on the nightly prerelease on GitHub, since the marketplaces do not accept prerelease version numbers.

Sign in

If you already signed in with the desktop app or CLI, there is nothing to do: the extension uses the daemon's saved logins. Otherwise, open the Command Palette and run one of:

• Checkpoint: Sign In (Device Code) to sign in through your browser.
• Checkpoint: Sign In with API Token to paste a server URL and an API token (create one in the web app under Settings > Devices).

Checkpoint: Sign Out removes a login.

Features

Source Control view

Pending changes appear in the Source Control view in this order:

1. Conflicts, if a pull left any.
2. Each branch's default changelist, then each numbered pending changelist.
3. Unstaged Changes. Untracked files show as U, and as A once staged. Folders with no tracked files are listed file by file (up to a limit, see checkpoint.untrackedFolderFileLimit below).

Type a message in the input box and press Ctrl+Enter (or use Submit Changes in the view's toolbar) to submit, with progress reported while the job runs.

Staging and changelists

• Right-click files in Unstaged Changes to Stage Changes. Right-click staged files to Unstage Changes, Move to Branch..., or Move to Changelist....
• New Pending Changelist creates a numbered changelist. Right-click a changelist's header to Submit Changelist, Edit Changelist Description, or Delete Changelist.
• Stage only part of a text file: in a diff, use Stage Block on a change in the gutter, Stage Selection for selected lines, or Stage Selected Ranges from the editor's title bar or context menu. Revert Selected Ranges discards selected changes instead.

Checkouts and reverting

• Check Out File and Check Out File (Locked) (an exclusive claim) are in the Command Palette for the active file. Undo Checkout releases a checkout.
• Revert Changes restores a file to its head version.
• Revert if Unchanged reverts the selected files only if their content matches the head version. Revert Unchanged Files in the view's toolbar does that for every pending file.
• Mark Conflicts as Resolved clears a file from Conflicts once you have fixed it.

Diffs and decorations

• Quick diff markers in the editor gutter show changes against the head version, and Open Changes opens a full diff.
• Files show Checkpoint status badges and colors in the Explorer and on editor tabs. Files ignored by .chkignore are greyed out in the Explorer (see Ignoring files).

Syncing, branches, and history

• The status bar shows the current branch (click to switch branches) and the sync status (click to pull).
• Pull Latest syncs the workspace and reports any merges and conflicts.
• Switch Branch and Create Branch are in the view's toolbar and the Command Palette.
• Show Changelist History browses the branch's history with diffs, and Show File History shows the history of the current file.

Toolbar

The Source Control view's toolbar has Submit Changes, Pull Latest, Refresh, Switch Branch, Create Branch, Show Changelist History, Revert Unchanged Files, and New Pending Changelist.

Settings

Setting	Default	Description
checkpoint.autoRefresh	true	Refresh pending changes automatically when files in the workspace change.
checkpoint.autoRefreshDelay	1000	Milliseconds to wait after the last file change before refreshing.
checkpoint.autoRefreshMaxDelay	5000	Longest a refresh can be put off (in milliseconds) while files keep changing, so a long build or an AI agent rewriting files cannot block refreshes entirely.
checkpoint.autoRefreshExcludeDirs	[".git", "node_modules"]	Folder names whose changes never trigger a refresh. Matches any path segment. .checkpoint is always excluded.
checkpoint.untrackedFolderFileLimit	5000	Folders with no tracked files are listed file by file (so you can stage single files) when they hold up to this many files and subfolders. Larger folders stay a single row. 0 never lists them.
checkpoint.syncStatusInterval	60	Seconds between checks for whether the workspace is behind the server. Minimum 10.
checkpoint.daemonPort	0	Port of the local daemon. 0 reads it from ~/.checkpoint/daemon.json (normally 13010).

Troubleshooting

If the extension shows "the local daemon is not reachable", start the desktop app or use Start Daemon in the tray menu, then choose Retry. The extension also keeps retrying in the background. See Troubleshooting for more.