Important
You must run the application as administrator on Windows. This is required because Windows Security may incorrectly flag certain operations, which can prevent the app from running properly. If you do not do this, the app may fail to open or display security warnings.
Important
On macOS, allow any system permission prompts when they appear, or run the app using sudo if you are launching it from Terminal.
Note
Autopilot is open source and runs locally only. You can review the source code to verify that it does not contain malware or any malicious behavior.
This repository is where we develop Autopilot, an open-source editor focused on AI-assisted coding and computer tasks. While it includes a fully featured built-in editor, its primary focus is on AI agent workflows. Autopilot is completely free to use under Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) models.
This source code is built upon the foundation of microsoft/vscode and is available to everyone under the standard MIT license.
Autopilot was built from the ground up with AI agents at its core. Unlike Visual Studio Code, where AI features are optional add-ons, Autopilot always operates in BYOK mode inside the Agents window (and sidebar). You bring your own keys from any provider, and the AI works for you without restrictions or usage limits.
The engine that handles your AI requests is optimized for speed. Tasks that might take hours elsewhere can be completed in a single coffee break. We've re-architected the request pipeline to be lean and responsive, so you spend less time waiting and more time getting work done.
Autopilot uses the same format as VS Code - an IDE for file and folder editing with extensions support - but with a twist: it includes Auto, a purpose-built AI agent designed to do the work for you.
Auto is a specific AI with many instructions, accessible through BYOK (Bring Your Own Key) - add as many models from any provider you would like. There's no AI limits here.
While it retains VS Code's sidebar chat for in-IDE assistance, Autopilot also features an Agent window. Click "Agent" in the top-right to open a separate window with its own logo. This window is primarily focused on using an AI agent without any IDE clutter - here, the AI does all the work.
Users can pick AI permissions to give the AI more or less freedom:
- Strict: When enabled, the AI must ask to do anything beyond chatting: running commands, writing files, reading files, searching the web, etc.
- Non-Strict: This allows the AI to read files, search the web, and do other minor tasks. No writing.
- Bypass: This allows the AI to do almost anything. Commands that could be dangerous require permission (accept/deny).
- Takeoff: When this mode is on, any and all questions the AI asks are automatically skipped (assuming the user is away), and any and all permissions are accepted. This is the main autopilot mode: if the user is away, it does not stop.
- Always BYOK: Unlike other editors, Autopilot's Agents window always operates in Bring Your Own Key mode. Use your own API keys from OpenAI, Anthropic, or any provider. No subscriptions, no usage caps, no vendor lock-in.
- Blazing fast response times: We've optimized the entire AI request pipeline to be significantly faster than typical implementations. Get results in minutes, not hours. Complete complex tasks during a single coffee break.
- Auto - the built-in agent: A purpose-built AI agent that handles coding tasks autonomously. It reads your codebase, makes changes, runs commands, and explains its work.
- Dedicated Agent window: A separate, focused window for AI-driven work. No IDE clutter, just the agent and your tasks.
- Flexible permission levels: Choose from Strict, Non-Strict, Bypass, or Takeoff modes to control how much autonomy the AI has.
- Full VS Code compatibility: All your favorite extensions, themes, and workflows work out of the box.
- Cross-platform: Runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
This repository is not actively maintained for pull requests. We accept issue reports only for:
- Bug reports: Reproducible problems with Autopilot
- Feature requests: Ideas for improving Autopilot
Please use GitHub Issues for these two purposes only. We do not accept code contributions via pull request at this time.
Autopilot includes a set of built-in extensions located in the extensions folder, including grammars and snippets for many languages. Extensions that provide rich language support (inline suggestions, Go to Definition) for a language have the suffix language-features. For example, the json extension provides coloring for JSON and the json-language-features extension provides rich language support for JSON.
Copyright (c) Autopilot contributors. All rights reserved.
Licensed under the MIT license.
Autopilot is a fork of microsoft/vscode. The original VS Code source code is Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation and is also licensed under MIT. See LICENSE.txt for full attribution and license details.