vscode-tacos

April 9, 2026 · View on GitHub

TaCoS Resume Brief — a VS Code extension for getting back on track after interruptions.

TaCoS demo card showing a realistic mid-task resume brief

What it does

TaCoS helps you pick up exactly where you left off. It captures what you were working on before context decays, then surfaces a calm, evidence-backed brief when you return.

Built for engineers who get interrupted constantly:

SREs and on-call responders
Staff+ engineers carrying parallel work
Anyone who loses 10 minutes re-orienting after a context switch

TaCoS is not an AI productivity assistant. It's a local-first cognitive recovery tool. The AI parts are optional.

Get started

Install the extension.
Open a project in VS Code.
Run TaCoS: Show Resume Brief Now to see your brief.
Run TaCoS: Capture Task State to save your current context before switching away.

→ 5-minute quickstart

Core commands

Command	What it does
`TaCoS: Show Resume Brief Now`	Open your resume brief
`TaCoS: Capture Task State`	Save current task state (objective, next step, blockers, confidence)
`TaCoS: Mark Task Resolved`	Close the current task state cleanly
`TaCoS: Show Cognitive Debrief`	Review open threads, stale state, and unresolved blockers
`TaCoS: Show Resume Safety Check`	Post-resume `State / Risk / Verify` quick-check
`TaCoS: Add Quick Task Note`	Fast freeform note for the current task
`TaCoS: List Task Notes`	Browse and manage open notes
`TaCoS: Run Setup Checklist`	Guided first-run setup
`TaCoS: Set Privacy Preset`	Choose `Minimal / Balanced / Max context`

How it works

Task state

When you capture task state, TaCoS records:

what you're trying to accomplish
files and systems in scope
assumptions you're treating as true
blockers in the way
the single next step
your confidence level
when this state goes stale
the last known safe breakpoint
what to verify first on resume (prospective intent — the highest-value recovery cue)

Resume brief

When you return, TaCoS answers:

What were you doing?
What changed since?
What do you need to verify next?
What's still unresolved?

The panel uses a layered model — ambient (status bar), glanceable (Resume Brief panel), and deep (evidence, timeline, AI payload drill-down).

TaCoS watches for conservative signals: focus return after idle, workspace root changes, branch changes, and task partition changes. When it detects a likely switch, it offers a one-action prompt: Capture / Skip / Snooze / Dismiss. It does not use keystroke logging, biometrics, or black-box scores.

Privacy and safety

Local-first. Nothing leaves your machine without your explicit consent.
No hidden telemetry. Metrics and diagnostics stay local.
No cloud backend. No account, no sync, no backend.
AI is optional. You choose if and when to involve a model.
Restricted Mode fully suppresses risky collection and execution actions.
Always-visible provenance badge. The panel header shows ● Local-only (green) or ● AI used · <provider> (amber) on every render — no scrolling required to confirm your data posture.

→ Privacy and Safety docs

Settings

Setting	Default	Description
`tacos.taskCheckpoint.enabled`	`true`	Enable structured task state capture
`tacos.taskCheckpoint.promptOnLikelySwitch`	`true`	Prompt at conservative switch boundaries
`tacos.resumeSafety.enabled`	`true`	Post-resume safety check annunciator
`tacos.resumeSafety.strict`	`false`	Warn before first risky action on strong mismatch
`tacos.aiIncludeCheckpointNotes`	`false`	Include task notes in AI payloads
`tacos.aiIncludeScratchpad`	`false`	Include scratchpad in AI payloads
`tacos.percolationPolicyEnabled`	`true`	Dynamic surface arbitration
`tacos.evidence.granularity`	`medium`	Evidence tab time window: `coarse` = last 10 min, `medium` = last 5 min, `fine` = last 2 min

Docs

Development

npm ci
npm run verify:quick       # format + lint + typecheck + unit tests
npm run test:integration   # VS Code integration harness
npm run package:vsix       # build VSIX artifact

License

MIT